THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
CONDUCTED BY A SOCIETY OF CLERGYMEN,
UNDER EPISCOPAL SANCTION.
VOL. V.
" Ut Christian! ita et Roman! sitis."
" As you are children of Christ, so be you children of Rome."
Ex Dictis S. Palricii, Book of Armagh, fol. 9.
DUBLJN :
WILLIAM B. KELLY, 8, GRAFTON-STREET.
LONDON: BURNS & OATES, 17, PORTMAN-STREET, W.
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES : P. M. HAVERTY, I, BARCLAY-ST.
Imprimatur,
* PAULUS CARDINALIS CULLEN,
$xc
DUBLINI, 31 AUCUSTI, 1869.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
Page.
Abbe le Hir on the Authenticity of the versicle I John v. 7 . . 20, i 14
Abbey of Ross-Errily ... ... ... ... ... 38
Abyssinia, The Church in ... ... ... ... ... 123
Address of the Catholic University to our Most Holy Father
Pius IX. ... ... ... ... ... ... 587
Address of St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, to our Most Holy Father
Pius IX. ... ... ... ... ... ... 589
^ngus the Culdee, Life of ... ... ... ... ... i, 73, 97
Ancient Hymn to St. MacCarthen, Bishop and Patron of the See of
Clogher ... ... ... ... ... ... 185, 236
Antrim, Ancient Religious Houses of ... ... ... ...289,297,390
Apostolical Letter of His Holiness to the Schismatical Bishops of the
East , 47
Apostolical Letter of His Holiness to all Protestants, &c. ... ... 94
Archbishop of Paris, Letter of His Holiness to ... ... ... 337
Armagh, Resolutions adopted in, 1824... ... ... ... 142
Armagh, Ancient Religious Houses of ... ... ... 395 , 448, 493, 593
Ascendency, Protestant, and Catholic Education in Ireland ... 501
Association of Prayer for those Addicted to Intemperance ... 108,190
Association of St. Francis de Sales ... ... ... ... 237
Authenticity of I John v. 7 ... ... ... ... ...20, 114, 266
Bishops, The French, and the Catholic University ... ... 262
Blackrock, Reply of His Holiness to the Address of French College ... 447
Breaking Net, The ... ... ... ... ... ... 229
Catechist, Qualities of a Successful ... ... ... ... 472
Catholic Ceremonial, by Rev. M. O'Connor, S.J. ... ... 522
Catholic University of Ireland, Address of, to Pius IX. ... ... 587
Catholic University of Ireland and the French Bishops ... ... 262
Catholicity and Progress ... ... ... ... ... 453
Church in Abyssinia ... .. ... ... ... 123
Civilization and Arts in Ancient Ireland .., ... ... 322,349
Clonliffe, Reply of His Holiness to the Address of Diocesan Seminary 446
Columbanus, St. ... ... ... ... ... ... 408
Columbanus, St. , Missal of ... ... ... ... ... 544
Converts, Institution for Poor ... ... ... ... ... 191
Council, The Coming General ... ... ... ... 278, 309
Cullen, Cardinal, Lecture on Catholic Education and Protestant
Ascendency in Ireland ... ... ... .. .., 501
DOCUMENTS: —
Apostolical Letter of His Holiness Pius IX. to the Schismatical
Bishops of the Eastern Churches ... ... ... 47
Apostolical Letter of His Holiness Pius IX. to all Protestants, &c. 94
Letter of the S. C. of Propaganda onl the Use of the Latin
Language in Correspondence with the Holy See ... ... 140
Decree Regarding the Blessed Scapulars ... ... ... 141
Resolutions adopted in Armagh on the 3rd of October, 1824 ... 142
Letter of His Holiness Pius IX. to the Bishop of Montpelier
on some Modern System of Education ... .,, ... 189
vj Alphabetical Index.
DOCUMENTS (Continued): —
Rescript of the Sac. Cong., Granting Indulgences to the Associa-
tion of St. Francis de Sales ... ... ... ••• 237
Decree of the Holy Office on the Manner of Receiving Converts
into the Church ... ... '286
Decree Granting the Office of St. Paul of the Cross to the
whole Church ... ... — — 335
Circular on the Vestments to be brought by Bishops to the
Oecumenical Council ... ... ••• 33^
Letter of His Holiness Pius IX. to the Archbishop of Paris ... 337
Encyclical of nth April, 1869, Granting a Jubilee to the whole
Church - 385
Letter of His Holiness Pius IX. to the Superiors and Students of
the Diocesan Seminary of Holy Cross, Clonliffe ... 447
Letter of His Holiness to the Superiors and Students of the
French College, Blackrock ... ... ... ... 447
Decree of the S. C. of Rites Regarding the Mass and Prayer
de Spiritu Sancto ... ... ... ... ••• 545
Allocution of His Holiness Pius IX., on 25th June, 1869 ... 547
Decrees Regarding the Fast Prescribed for Gaining the Jubilee,
and the Faculties of Confessors, &c. ... ' ... 585
Address of the Catholic University to our Most Holy Father, and
Reply of His Holiness ... 587
Address of the Superiors, &c., of St. Patrick's College, Maynooth,
to our Most Holy Father, and Reply of His Holiness ... 589
Dioceseof Dublin in 1630 » ... ... ... ... 145
Donnelly, Letter of Most Rev. Dr., Bishop of Clogher, to the Editors
of the Ir. EC. Record ... ... ... ... 236
Eastern preparations for the General Council ... ... ... 3°9
Education, Letter of H. H. on some modern systems of ... ... 189
Education, Protestant Ascendency and Catholic ... ... 5O1
Education, Essay on Religion in, as an instrument of mental culture,
by Very Rev. Monsignor Woodlock ... ... .... 360
Established Church question ... ... .. ... ... 82
Eve, The Second ... ... ... .. ... ... 167
Festivities for the Pope's Jubilee ... ... ... ... 433
Fragments from the early Irish Church ... ... ... 224
French Bishops and the Catholic University ... ... ... 262
General Council, the Coming ... ... ... ... 278, 309
Geology and Revelation ... ... ... ... ... 49,193
Hir, the Abbe le, on the authenticity of I John, v. 7 ... ... 20, 114
Indulgences granted to the Association of St. Francis de Sales ... 237
Institution for poor Converts ... ... ... ... 191
Intemperance, Association of Prayer for those addicted to ... 108
Ireland, early relations of, with the Isle of Man . . ... 241
Ireland, Civilization and Art in ancient ... ... ... 322
I rish Church, Fragments from the early ... ... ... 224
Irish Missionary of the sixth century and his work ... ... 408
Uuh Priest, Lecture by Rev. M. O'Connor, SJ. .. ... 550
Irish Traces of the verse i John, v. 7 ... ... ... 266
bleofMan ... ... ... ... ... ... 241
Jubilee, Encyclical of H.K., granting a General ... 385
Jubilee, Special Decrees regarding the present ... ... ... 545,580
Keane's Theories regarding the Round Towers, &c. ... ... 375
Knox and the First-fruits of Presbyterianism ... ... ..„ 480,573
Latin language to be used in correspondence with the Holy See ... 140
Letters of French Bishops on the Catholic University 262
Life of St, jEngus, the Culdee ... ... i, 73 97
44, 89, 137, 187, 284. 333, 384, 445, 491- 545. 585
, St., Ancient Hymn in praise of i8c, 236
le of ... ... ... mmm " 241
Alphabetical Index. vii
Maynooth, Address of St. Patrick's College to our M.H. Father ... 589
'Missal of St. Columban ... ... ... ... ... 544
Monasticon Hibernicum ^ ... ... 289, 297, 390, 448, 493, 593
Notes during a Journey in France ... ... ... 397
Office of St. Paul of the Cross ... .. ... ... 335
Pius IX., Letters of ... 47, 94, 189, 337, 385, 446, 447, 587, 589
Pius IX., Jubilee of our M. H. Father, ... ... 433
Presbytenanism, the First-fruits of ... ... ... ... 480
Priest, The Irish ... ... ... ... ... 550
Progress and Catholicity ... ... ... ... ... 453
•Protestant Ascendency and Catholic Education in Ireland 501
Qualities of a successful Catechist ... ... ... ... 472
Revelation and Geology ... ... ... 49, 193
Religion in Education as an instrument of mental culture ... ... 360
Remarks on some statements of Marcus Keane ... ... 375
Resolutions of the Bishops of Ireland ... ... ... ... 582
Ross- Errilly, the Abbey of ... ... ,.. 38
Rubrics, see Liturgical Questions
Savonarola ... ... ... ... ... 80
Scapulars, Decree regarding the ... .. ... ... 141
Soggarth Aroon, Lecture by Rev. M. O'Connor, S.J. ... 550
Versicle, i John, v. 7 ... ... ... 20,114,266
Vestments to be used at the General Council ... ... 336
Woodlock, Very Rev. Monsignor, Lecture on Religion in Education, &c. 360
Woodlock, Very Rev. Monsignor, Notes during a Journey in France 397
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
OCTOBER, 1868.
THE LIFE AND WORKS OF ST. JSNGUSIUS HAGIO-
GRAPHUS, OR ST, JENGUS THE CULDEE,
BISHOP AND ABBOT AT CLONENAGH AND DYSARTENOS, QUEEN'S
COUNTY.
I. — Introduction. — Sources of biography to illustrate the acts of
St. ^ngus. — His pedigree and early life. — He studies at the
monastery of Clonenagh. — Monastic training and learning.
IF the life of every good man can be presented " to point a
moral and adorn a tale", some account regarding the labours,
learning, and life of a holy Irish monk, who flourished in the
eighth and ninth centuries, may claim attention and interest,
•when brought before Irish readers. They serve to illustrate the
habits and usages of our early monasticism. Our regards can-
not be lessened towards the subject of this biographical notice,
because he has deserved to rank among the host of Irish saints.
Asa poet, too, his life abounds in the romance of reality. Much
could we desire to glean fuller particulars respecting him, and
to render his name and works more popularly known and appre-
ciated, than they have hitherto been. We can only offer some
brief biographical statements, and a necessarily imperfect analysis
regarding his valuable writings. The time must soon arrive,
when more satisfactory and learned efforts will make the vene-
rable name of -^Engus the Culdee be remembered and invoked,
by every pious and enlightened Irish Catholic.
The acts of this illustrious saint, known generally to Irish
scholars as JEngus the Hagiologist, have been published by
VOL. Y. 1
2 The Life and Works of
Colffan at the llth of March.1 This latter researchful writer
doubted not, that the life of Saint JEngus had been written at
full length, and had been accessible, at a more remote period.
But Colgan complains that this life was not available, at the time
he had been engaged in publishing the acts of our Irish saints.
However, the virtues of ^ngus have been specially recorded,
by some old writer, who prefixes an argument or an introduc-
tion to this saint's existing writings. Another Irish poet, like-
wise bearing the name of jEngus, has celebrated the Culdee's
praises in certain verses, sufficiently indicative of great anti-
JEngus the Culdee, sometimes named JEngusius Hagiogra-
phus, or JSneas, is said to have been descended from Coelbach,
king of Ireland.3 The name of his father was ^Engavan, called
in Harris' Ware* Oengobhan, the son of Oblein, the son of Fid-
hraus, according to a genealogy made out for him in our Mar-
tyrologies.* He was sprung from the royal race of the Dalara-
1 See Colgan's Ada Sanctorum Hiberniac, xi. Martii. Vita 2Engussii, pp. 579
to 583.
1 Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii. Vita S. JEngussii, cap. ii.
p. 679. In note 5, p. 682, Colgan remarks, the author of this metrical life, in
the penultimate verse of his panegyric on the saint, prays that he may enjoy
with his namesake the bliss of eternal life. He extols St. JEngus with surpass-
ing encomiums, stating that the saint was of ten engaged in colloquies with celes-
tial spirits. He styles St. .flSngus the Sun of Western Europe. On account of
those things related regarding the studies of our saint in his youthful days, his
daily and wonderful exercises, his rare humility and austerity, the day of his
death, being feria sexta, the place of his burial, and such like notices, Colgan
is under an impression, that the writer must have been a friend of St. ^Engus,
and have lived contemporaneously with him. Wherefore, owing to the concur-
rences of time, neighbourhood, and great erudition, it is supposed, that the writer
had been no other than .^Engus, Abbot of Cluain-fearta-Molua, who died in the
year 858. See 0' Donovan's Annals oj the Four Masters, vol. i. pp. 492, 493.
Colgan says, from the metrical panegyric, and the scholiast who wrote a pre-
face to the Festilogy of JSngus, he derived all his materials for the life of this
saint A few particulars only are excepted, and these were drawn from other
sources. See Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii, n. 5, p. 582.
3 The following is St. JEngus* pedigree, as contained in a preface to his
Ftlire, in the Leabhar Breac, B. I. A., Dublin : " Aengus, the son of Oengoba,
son of 06/cn, son of Fidru, son of Diarmuit, son of Ainmire, son of Cellar, son
of Oengus, son of Natsluagh, son of Caelbad [of the Rudrician or Ultonian race,
who was monarch of Erinn, and was slain, A.D. 357], son of Crumbadrai, son of
hochaidh Cobaf\ See Professor Eugene O'Curry's Lectures on the Manuscript
609 °^ Andent Iris^ History> Lect. xvii. p. 363, and Appendix, No. cxi.
4 Vol. ii. The Writers of Ireland. Book i. p. 51.
Such is an account left us by the anonymous scholiast on the Festilogium of
Aengus, and to whom allusion has been made, as also in the Sanctilogiurn
benealogicum, cap. 23, where his genealogy is given in these words: " S. Mnqus-
lutfiUus gngavani, F. Hoblenii, F. Fidrai, F. Diermitti, F. Anmirechi, F. Cel-
irw /<. JLnawtsu i F Natsluagii, F. Coelbadii, F. Crunnii Badhrai, F. Eochadii
iae, /-. Luy<,dnt /-. Rosm, F. Imchadii, F, Fethlemidii, F. Cassii, F. Fiach
</u a quo Dalaradiorum familia nominate*". See Colgan's Acta Sancto-
\m tiibeimae, at. Martii. Vita S. jEngussii, nn. 1 et 3 p. 682.
St. dSngusius Hagiographus. 3
dians in Ulster,1 and he was born in Ireland, about the middle
of the eighth century. Almost from infancy, he deserved the
appellation Culdee? or worshipper of God, which surname he
afterwards bore. From the dawning perceptions of childhood,
he felt an earnest desire of devoting himself to a religious life.
He practised mortification to an extraordinary degree, even in
his youth ; and he conceived most exalted ideas of Christian per-
fection, the attainment of which was an object, ever uppermost
in his mind.
About this time, the great monastery of Clonenagh, in Ossory,
under direction of the saintly Abbot Malathgenius,3 enjoyed a
high reputation, both for the number and sanctity of its inmates.
^Engus preferred his suit for admission within its enclosure, and
his request was favourably received. But his early noviciate, in
the exercise of all virtues, had preceded the care bestowed by
that holy abbot, on his youthful disciple. His daily progress in
the paths of Christian sanctity, and his advancement in sacred
learning, were aided by application and capacity, to such an ex-
traordinary degree, that in a short time he bore the reputation of
being one among the most sanctified^and erudite men, of whom
Ireland could then boast.
An ingenious and a distinguished French writer,4 capable
from his peculiar line of study to pronounce opinions on this
subject, has ably vindicated the progress made in sacred learning
1 Colgan's Ada Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii. *mVita S. jEngussii, cap. i.
p. 579.
8 " Toland pretends (Neizarenus, Letter ii. sect, 3) that the surname Ceile De
given to .^Engus indicated an office or particular sort of profession, and that he
was one of that sort of clergymen, who have been afterwards called Culdees.
But jEngus was a monk; whereas the Culdees, as will be seen elsewhere, were
the secular canons of cathedral or collegiate churches, such as we call preben-
daries. It is a palpable mistake to suppose, that they were a monastic order.
The title, Ceils De, as applied to JEngus, had nothing to do with them; and it
is more than probable that in his time there was not as yet any such institution
as that of those so much talked of Culdees. ^Engus's surname was peculiar to
himself, unless it should be supposed that all that is said of his having been a
monk, etc., is false. Many Irish names began with Ceile, Cele, or with the corres-
ponding word Gilta, followed by that of our Saviour or some Saint" — Lanigan's
Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, vol. iii. c. xx. § x. n. 96, p. 248.
3 The death of " Maelaithgen, Abbot of Cluain-Eidhrieach", occurred in the
year 767. See O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. pp. 370, 371.
The feast of St. Malathgenius is observed on the 21st of October, and St.
jEngus must have been his disciple before the year 767. For as that other
jEngus, who wrote the eulogy of our Saint in elegant metre, has told us that
JEngus the Culdee studied from boyhood in the monastery of Clonenagh, and
afterwards, when he had been celebrated for his miracles, he lived in the monas-
tery of Tallagh, before St. Melruan's death, A.D. 787. It is supposed; therefore,
to follow, that he studied in the monastery of Clonenagh under the aforesaid
abbot. See Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii, n. 4, p. 582.
4 M. de la Villemarque, of the French Institute, has published a most inter-
resting article on the Poetry of the Celtic Cloisters. It appeared in the No-
vember number of Le Correspondant for 1863.
1 B
4 The Life and Works of
and science among the pupils of our early schools. When
the Celt became a Christian and a monk, his love of numbers
still remained, and his conceptions becoming ^ spiritualised
by the aspirations after perfection, which he daily breathed
heavenward, poetic inspiration was the happy result. Study,
with manual labour, divided cloistral occupations, and through
study this inspiration became fruitful. The saints of Ireland,
intent only on making their disciples spiritual men, one day
found to their surprise they had created poets. The genius of
these poets was varied, as the crowd of strangers that thronged
the schools. Their compositions may be reduced under the
heads of didactic poetry, lyrical poetry, Amras or panegyrics,
legends strictly so called, Felires or Festologies, visions, and
navigations or voyages. All these have their special features
of interest and edification. However, owing to various causes,
facts were now and then changed into fictions. But M. de la
Villemarque is far from agreeing with those, who consider ro-
mances regarding the saints as worthless. According to him,
the portraits of saints simply underwent the fate of all heroes
belonging to early ages ; and yet, between the sacred and pro-
fane legends there exists a great difference. In what profane
legend do we ever find an express caution to the reader, that,
beside the literal and historical sense, there is also a spiritual
meaning to be drawn from the narrative ?' That delicate and
sound morality which marks the legends of the Breton and
Irish saints, has been specially dwelt on by a modern critic. For
freshness, richness of invention, and national characteristics, no
church has aught to compare with them. And all Celtic
scholars will acknowledge this high degree of praise to be fully
deserved.
Accounts which are given respecting the miracles and
sanctity ^of jEngus, and the evidences of his learning that
yet remain, are more than equalled by that profound humility
which led him to form a most abject opinion regarding his own
deserts. The manner in which he renounced this world and
the applause of mankind, must deserve unbounded admiration,
although it may fail to induce the imitation of all professing
Christians. His mind was replenished with heavenly graces,
and he was favoured with celestial visions. He combined the
rare gifts of profound wisdom and singular zeal, in all his
at DaDte fu"7 realized this double nature
" Ye of intellect,
sound and entire, mark well the lore conceal'd
Under close texture of the mystic strain".
Inferno, IX., 62.— Car/* Transl
St. ^Engusius Hagiographus. 5
actions and affections ; while it would be a difficult question to
decide, whether his virtues were greater than his miracles in
sight of God and man. One thing, however, is certain, that
the nobility of his descent was more than surpassed by the
lustre of his virtues.
II. — St. ^Engus retires to Dysart Enos. — His austerities — Repu-
tation for sanctity. — He visits the Church of Coolbanagher. —
A vision of angels. — The purpose it evoked.
Some six or seven miles from Clonenagh, ./Engus had built a
cell1 for himself. Thither he frequently retired, to put in prac-
tice, unknown and unnoticed, those rigorous observances which
he followed. The locality of this cell hence derived its name,
Dysartenos, or the desert of ^Engus,2 which it yet retains. A
broken range of limestone hills, of romantic and rugged outline,
probably suggested to him the idea of its suitableness as a place
for seclusion and retreat. At the present day, the scenes of his
retirement present an aspect of solitude and grandeur, the effect
of which must have been considerably heightened in that early
age.3 An extensive tract of morass and bog now intervenes
between the ruins of Clonenagh's old monastery and Dysart-
1 That he built a cell for himself at Dysart Enos may be inferred, not only
from the expression of Colgan, " coluit eremum", but also from a statement
that he recited the first fifty psalms " in oratorio", and the second fifty, " sub
diu juxta proceram arborem oratorio adjacentem". See Ada Sanctorum
Hiberniae, xi. Martii, Vita S. Aengussii, cap. iii. p. 579.
2 The anonymous scholiast, already mentioned, calls it Disert Mnguis : and
the other ^Engus, who wrote our saint's eulogy, writes it down as Disert-
JBethech. He likewise indicates that it lay very near to Clonenagh. Colgan
adds, " vel forte ab ipso non esse diversum, in quatenus ait in S. JEngussium
esse in jam memorato deserto (et non addit quod non in Cluain-edhneach), et
educatum et sepultum". Wherefore, Colgan thinks the Desert in question
was identical with Cluain-edneach, or at least that ^Engus perchance died
and had been buried in the place first named. Our annals certainly show
that a Desertum Mngussii differed from Cluain-edhneach. These record that
Conn, son of Maelpadraig, Archinnech of Disert-Oenghusa and of Mungairit,
died A.D. 1033. See Colgan's Ada Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii, n. 6, p.
582 ; and O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, vol. ii. pp. 826, 827. In a
note (y) ibid., I am certain, Dr. O'Donovan fell into an error, by identifying
the latter Disert-Aengusa with Dysart-Enos, in the Queen's county. I feel
satisfied the Disert-Aengussa and Mungairit, already named, were both
situated within the present county of Limerick. The former lay near Ballin-
garry, and the latter near Limerick city.
3 Near the Dysart Hills, lies a beautiful demesne called Lamberton Park.
Here, during the Wizard of the North's tour through Ireland in 1825, he was
hospitably entertained by a former proprietor, the Eight Hon. Judge Moore,
as may be seen, by consulting Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott, chap. Ixiii.
What Lockhart forgets to state, however, is yet traditionally remembered in
this neighbourhood. Sir Walter is said to have expressed himself, as being highly
gratified by the scenic beauty of all this surrounding locality ; and it must be
allowed, few persons had truer perceptions of taste and judgment, in reference
to such matters.
The Life and Work* of
This moorland must hare rendered access between
branches over his rude habitation; and the third he repeated
whilst tied by the neck to a stake, with half of his body plunged
in a tub of cold water. Besides these extraordinary practices,
he was continually employed in singing the praises of God, and in
acquiring such an ascendancy over his passions, that to ail save
himself, ^Engus seemed to be an angel concealed in human
Another and a learned authority has stated, that after leaving
Clonenagh, St. JEngus travelled into Munster, and that he
founded the church of Disert Aengusa, at a place situated near
Ballingarry, in the present county of Limerick.1 We are told
also that the primitive belfry, or round tower of this church,
yet remains. There are good reasons for believing, however,
that the latter church must have had its name from some other
saint, or person, named .^Engus ; for our saint is known to have
settled not far from Clonenagh— in fact, so very near, that the
localities Clonenagh and Dysartenos have been confounded by
ancient scholiasts on his works.2 Other circumstances, relating
to his acts and incidents of his life, confirm our conclusions, that
he lived, for some short time at least, in Dysartenos, a parish
so denominated, near the celebrated Rock of Dunamase, and a
few miles from Maryborough.
The fame of his sanctity diffused itself, to most distant parts
of the country. Numbers flocked towards his retreat, to enjoy
the pious conversation and exhortations of this holy anchorite,
and to derive from his example and instructions those lessons of
Tirtue which he could so well inculcate. Fearing the sugges-
1 See Professor Eugene O'Curry's Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of
Ancient Irish History. Lect xvii. p. 364.
* M All the country about Cluainenach for many miles, was, in the memory
of men yet living, a great forest. * * * * Desert JEngus (though the
name be now lost) was some part of this great wood". — Harris' Ware, vol. iii.
Writers of Ireland, book i. pp. 51, 52, note D. Harris lived in the earlier
part of the last century, when his principal works were published. He inti-
mates, likewise, that the place of his birth was at or near Brittas, where his
father, Captain Lieutenant Hopton Harris of the Militia, took part in an en-
gagement, during the Jacobite and Williamite wars in 1691. See Walter
Harris' History of the Life and Reign of William the Third, book ix. pp. 316,
817. Hence, we may^take it for granted, this writer had a good local know-
e respecting Clonenagh and Disart Enos. But, because he did not advert
le possible identity of the later denomination with Desart JEngus, he
thought this place where St. 2Engus resided could not then be identified.
St. jfEngusius Hagiographus. 1
tions of vain-glory, and finding it a matter of utter impossibility
to enjoy, in his present abode, that perfect seclusion desired, in
the practice of his austerities and devotions, JEngus took the
resolution of departing in a secret manner, towards some other
place of retirement.
Before his departure, however, and on the route to his se-
lected retreat, it was his intention to visit the church of Cool-
banagher,1 for the purpose of offering up prayers to that God,
whom he so faithfully served. Whilst engaged in this exercise,
a vision of angels appeared to him. These blessed spirits
seemed to surround a particular tomb. Celestial songs were
heard by him. at the same time, the ravishing harmony of
which gave him a foretaste of canticles, entoned by the beatified
in heaven. He noted the tomb thus distinguished, and imme-
diately directed his steps to a priest serving the church. ^Engus
made inquiries regarding the name and character of the deceased.
He soon learned that the occupant of the tomb in question had
been in early life a warrior, who retired from the profession of
arms and devoted himself to a life of penance. This soldier of
Christ had closed a long life of holy and spiritual warfare, a few
days before such event. jEngus was still more desirous to learn
the practices, devotions, and penitential exercises of the soldier.
His curiosity being gratified, he was unable to discover anything
very unusual, in these his religious observances, with the ex-
ception of a practice he followed each morning and night,
which was that of invoking the prayers of all saints, whose
names occurred to his memory. From this relation given by
the priest, the idea of composing a metrical hymn, in honour of
1 The old church of Coolbanagher yet remains in a ruinous state, and its
surrounding graveyard is now used as a place of burial. Tradition assigns to
the building an early date of erection. There are two divisions in this church
yet visible — most probably the nave and choir. A wall appears to have sepa-
rated both, but a large pointed doorway afforded a communication. The nave,
on the outside, measures thirty-two feet in length by twenty-two feet in
breadth. The outside wall of the choir measures twenty-eight feet, in length,
by sixteen feet, in breadth. The inside of the building is filled with loose
stones and rubbish. A narrow low door, now stopped up with masonry, appears
beneath an overshadowing mass of ivy, on the western gable ; and a door
seems to have been subsequently opened, on the southern side wall, probably,
when the former one had been closed. A splayed window opened on either
side of the nave. A splayed and ruinous east window formerly lighted the
choir, the side walls of which are now nearly level with the ground. These
are some descriptive particulars noticed during a visit to the spot, on the 10th
of December, 1853. On that occasion, the writer took a pencil sketch of the
old church ruins, as they appeared from the south-east side of the building.
There are no tombs, at present, in the graveyard or church, but such as
bear modern inscriptions. The old building is apparently of very great an-
tiquity. It adjoins the ruins of Coolbanagher Castle, near the great Heath of
Maryborough. In Sir Charles Coote's Statistical Survey of the Queen's
County, we are simply informed that " at Coolbanagher are the ruins of a
church and also of a castle". Chap. xi. § 4. p. 136.
3 The Life and Works of
all the saints, took possession of his mind.1 This hymn he in-
tended to repeat to his death, although his sincere humility
deterred him from the immediate prosecution of his project,
^ncnis, we are told, judged himself unfitted for such a task,
and°feared that the praises of the saints might be commemo-
rated in a manner, hardly suited to the dignity and importance
of his subject.
III.— St. ^Engus proceeds to the Monastery of Tallagh.— Seeks
admission there in guise of a servant.— Manual labour at agri-
cultural operations. — His humility and mortifications. — An
accident which befel him, and his miraculous cure.
At this time St. Molruan presided over a great monastery on
Tallagh Hill, in the present county of Dublin. Towards this
religious house, our saint proceeded.2 He appeared at the gate
1 To this incident, allusion has been made by Thomas D'Arcy M'Gee, in
that beautiful dirge, composed on the lamented death of his friend Eugene
O'Curry:—
" Let those who love and lose him most,
In their great sorrow comfort find,
Remembering how heaven's mighty host
Were ever present to his mind;
Descending on his grave at even,
May they a radiant phalanx see —
Such wondrous sight as once was given
In vision to the rapt Culdee".
Instead of the buried person being called a " soldier", according to an account
found in Professor O'Curry's Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient
Irish History, he is said to have been " a poor old man, who formerly lived at
the place. What good did he do ? said Aengus. I saw no particular good by
him, said the priest, but that his customary practice was to recount and invoke
the saints of the world, as far as he could remember them, at his going to bed
and getting up, in accordance with the custom of the old devotees. Ah ! my
God, said Aengus, he who would make a poetical composition in praise of the
saints should doubtless have a high reward, when so much has been vouch-
safed to the efforts of this old devotee 1 And Aengus then commenced his
poem on the spot. He subsequently continued it gradually, and finished it as
we have already seen". Lect. xvii. p. 365. According to the same learned
authority, our saint commenced this poem, known as the Festology, at Cuil
Bennchair in Offaly, continued it at Cluain Eidhnech, and finished it during
his servitude at Tallagh. Ibid. If such be the case, it is probable St. JEngus
left Dysartenos, and spent some time in his alma mater at Clonenagh, before
he proceeded to Tallagh.
•In this Report of the Census Commissioners of Ireland jor the year 1851,
part v. vol. i., we find a most valuable annalistic reference to diseases and pes-
tilences in this country from the earliest times to the present. In this able
report, which does so much credit to the learning and research of Sir William
Wilde, we find various accounts, which serve to furnish a derivation for Tal-
laght or Tamlacht. The Annals commence with the first recorded pestilence,
or Tamh— namely, that which destroyed Partition's colony, and which is
referred by the Four Masters to A.M. 2820, according to the long chronology of
the Septuagint. The entry by those annalists is, " Nine thousand of Partha-
lon's people died in one week on Sean- Mhagh-Ealta-Edair— namely, five thou-
St. ^ngusius Hagiographus. 9
of this monastery, and begged admission amongst the members
of its religious fraternity, in quality of lay brother, according to
Colgan and Harris j1 although Dr. Lanigan tells us, that such a
title was unknown in religious houses before the eleventh cen-
tury.2 He studiously concealed both his name and that of the
monastery, in which he had hitherto lived ; for JEngus was well
aware, that his fame had already extended to the institute of
Tallaght, which was then in its infancy. Wherefore, he assumed
a habit, calculated most effectually to disguise his real condition.
He concealed the fact of his enrolment in the ecclesiastical order,
sand men and four thousand women. Whence is (named) Tamlacht Muintire
Parthaloin" — " the place", adds Dr. Wilde, in his notice of the event, " now
called Tallaght, near Dublin ; and the tumuli of these early colonists, who died
from sudden epidemic, can still be seen upon the hills in its vicinity. This is
the first recorded pestilence in Ireland. The Irish word Tamh means an epide-
mic pestilence ; and the term Tamhleacht (the plague monument), \vhich fre-
quently enters into topographical names in Ireland, signifies a place where a
number of persons cut off by pestilence were interred together. — See Cormac's
Glossary MSS. See also note by O'Donovan in his Translation of the Annals
of the Four Masters. This destruction of the colony of Parthalon, which is
said to have occurred in ' the old plain of the valley of the flocks', stretching
between Ben Edair (Howth) and Tallaght, on which the city of Dublin now
stands, is thus mentioned in the ' Book of Invasions', contained in the Book of
Leinster (manuscript, Mr. Curry's translation.) « In Sean-Magh-Etair Partha-
lon became extinct in a thousand men and four thousand women, of one week's
mortality', or Tamh. This is the oldest manuscript account of that pestilence
that we now possess ; and in an ancient bardic poem in the Book of Leinster, it
is said : ' Parthalon's people, to the number of nine thousand, died of Tamh in
one week' ". Other authorities on the same subject are then cited, and among
the rest the Chronicon Scotorum MSS., as translated by Mr. Curry, where the
following entry occurs :— " In one thousand five hundred and four (400 accord-
ing to Eochaidh O'Flinn) from Parthalon's arrival in Ireland till the first mor-
tality (Duine-bhadh, ie., human mortality) that came in Ireland after the
Deluge; that is, the death by pestilence (Tamh) of Parthalon's people, which
happened on Monday, in the calends of May, and continued till the Sunday fol-
lowing. It was from that mortality (Duine-bhadh) of Parthalon's people the
name of the Taimleachta (the death or mortality place) of the men of Ireland
is derived".
1 Colgan says, he applied for admission, "inter con versos". Ada Sanctorum
Hiberniae, xi. Martii. Vita S. JZngussii, cap. v. p. 581. Harris states that he
was received " by the Abbot MaBlruan, as a lay brother". Harris' Ware, vol. ii.
Writers of Ireland, book i. p. 52.
2 " Harris ( Writers at Mngus) says that he was received as a lay-brother.
Colgan indeed, from whom he took his account of ./Engus, seems to have
thought so; for he represents him as conversus, the term by which a lay brother
is usually distinguished from a clerical one. But if this was Colgan's meaning,
he was certainly mistaken ; for the distinction between clerical and lay monks
or brethren, as it is now understood, was not known in Ireland at that period,
nor, it seems, any where until the eleventh century. (See Fleury, Discours
septieme sur TEist. EccL, and Instit. an Droit Eccl., part i. ch. 25.) In older
times some monks, it is true, were raised more or less to the clerical ranks, and
the number of such promotions appears to have increased with the course ef
ages ; but there was not as yet any radical distinction of classes in the religious
institutions, so as that one of them was perpetually debarred from any ecclesi-
astical promotion, and destined to toil in the fields and elsewhere as subordi-
nate to the other, and, in fact, as servants of the clerical or higher class".
Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, vol. iii. chap. xx. § x. n. 95, p. 247, 248.
10 The Life and Works of
and appeared as a serving man, seeking for service. This holy
servant of Christ was permitted to prove his vocation for a reli-
gious life, by engaging in the most laborious and meanest offices,
connected with Sie monastery. These duties, however, he most
cheerfully executed, and he devoted unremitting attention to
their most careful performance. He was principally employed
at field labour, and in the farm-yard belonging to the monastery;
for we are told, that with the sweat of his brow he was found as
a reaper of corn during the harvest, that he bore the sheaves on
his back to the barn, that he afterwards threshed out the grain,
and winnowed chaff therefrom, placing what had been thus pre-
pared in sacks. Like a beast of burden, he carried those sacks
on his back, sometimes to the granary, and sometimes to the
mill. This mill and a kiln, he had charge of by Melruan's
orders.1 During all these labours, this devout and humble
brother found time to raise his heart and thoughts towards
heaven. This ark of hidden wisdom considered himself, as only
fitted to discharge the mean offices, to which of choice he sub-
jected himself. These daily toils showed his complete self-
abnegation, and his contempt for the opinion of worldlings. Dur-
ing his labours this humble monk was scantily clothed. His
countenance was often disguised, owing to the combined effects
of sweat and dust, which covered his features. But, he had
neither the vanity nor inclination to appear well-looking in the
presence of his brethren. Nor would he devote any time to the
decoration of his person. He allowed the hair on his head to
grow long, tangled and uncombed ; the chaffy dust and straws of
the field and barn, he would not even remove from his clothes.
Thus JEngus conceived himself, as putting into practical opera-
tion the virtues of his monastic profession ; for it was only by
these means, he could induce worldlings to believe, that he was
the most abject and vile of all creatures, having more the
appearance of a monster, than of a human being. An extra-
ordinary love of mortification was united with extatic flames of
Divine love, in the soul of this great vessel of election ; and
hence, he merited the title of Kele-De,2 which he obtained, and
which may be rendered, " a lover of God". With an humble
spirit, in a mortified body, a light radiated the interior of his
soul. Yet this light was destined to escape from the close
sanctuary, within which it had hitherto beamed.
1 See, Professor Eugene O'Curry's Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of
:ten* /rwA history. Lect. xvii. p. 365. The author of this learned work
dares, that he saw the ruins of this mill and kiln, in their primitive dimen-
>ns, ar I that only a few years have passed by, since these venerable relics
have yielded to " the improving hand of modern progress".
1 "Quae vox latine reddita Deicolam, seu Amadaeum designat". Colgan's
ta ba'.ctorum Eibernia, xi. Martii. Vita S. jEngtissii, cap. v. p. 580
St. ^Engusius Hagiographus. 11
Meantime, it may be well to relate, that tlie Almighty was
pleased to reward the virtues of his servant, and by the testi-
mony of a surprising miracle. For, at one time, whilst this
holy monk was engaged in a neighbouring wood cutting down
branches for the use of his monastery, it happened, that he held
with the left hand a branch, which he wished to separate from
the trunk of a tree, and the axe, grasped in his right hand, glanced
from the object against which it had been directed. This in-
cautious stroke resulted in severing the left hand from his body.
We are told, the very birds, in the wood, by a sort of preterna-
tural instinct, had formed an attachment towards St. ^Engus, on
account of his innocent demeanour. Perhaps, the holy man
had often lightened his out-door labours, by chaunting the
psalmody of the Church, — probably adapted to verses of his own
composition. Those feathered warblers, the thrushes or black-
birds — so often celebrated in Ossianic song1 — had made the dells
and brakes around Glenasmoil and Tallagh resound with dulcet
melody, while spring and summer breezes loaded the air with
agreeable perfume from mountain herbs and shrubs. Their strains
were often stilled, when more solemn and pathetic notes, from
"a son of song", agreeably called forth the natural echoes, which
resounded through wooded hill-sides and hollows, surrounding
St. Melruan's monastery. Those songsters of the grove and
thicket will rest with listening ear, and love to linger near any
spot, where the humble field-labourer pours forth the unpreme-
ditated lay, with a clear and modulated voice. If not disturbed,
these woodland minstrels even desire human companionship and
vocalism of a perfect character. We cannot doubt, the Chris-
tian's heart was naturally gentle and toned with refined feeling,
while the poet's soul and senses were attuned to all the soft and
sweet influences of wild scenery and its charming accessories.
Sometimes, it is said, even ravens flap their wings with affright,
when from a distance they scent human blood. A mysterious
sympathy frequently unites irrational to rational creatures. At
the moment this accident befel -^Engus, birds flocked around,
and by their screams and cries, seemed to bewail the pure and
angelic man's misfortune. Full of confidence in the power and
goodness of God, without hesitation, JEngus took up the hand
which had been lopped off, and at once set it, in its proper place,
at the extremity of his mutilated arm. Instantly, it adhered, and
recovered its former power, as if no accident whatever had be-
fallen him. Hereupon ^Engus poured forth his soul, in praise
and thanksgiving, to the great preserver of all creatures.2
, edited by John O'Daly, n. 1, p. 4. Trans-
actions of the Ossianic Society for the year 1856, vol. iv.
* See Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii. Vita S. Aengussii, cap.
vi. p. 580.
12 The Life and Works of
Our popular traditions, especially referring to the saints, often
savour of exaggeration. The Irish people have loved and ad-
mired purity and holiness, while they have implicit faith in the
sovereign power of God towards and over his elect. The fore-
going miracle — one of the few miracles recorded about our saint,
although he is said to have wrought many — may be classed with
our Legenda Sanctorum. Probably, its rationale would accord
better with the fact, that St. ^Engus had almost chopped the left
hand from his arm, but that he had immediately bandaged and
united these members of his body, so nearly dissevered, and yet
so fortunately preserved for future use. In the case of wounds,
eminent surgeons allow, that very dangerous ones are often
healed by prompt attention, and by a recuperative energy found
in the human body itself. If a piece of flesh be totally cut away
and soon after applied to the place whence taken, both parts will
again unite. By the popular rumour, the cure of St. JEngus
has been pronounced miraculous. However it had been effected,
we cannot fail to recognize the Almighty's bounty towards a
favoured servant, who was destined to effect still greater good,
and acquire additional merits, before his day of deliverance from
earth had arrived.
IV.— The incident which first discovered St. ^Engus to the Holy
Abbot St. Melruan — Friendship thenceforth existing between
them.— Literary pursuits of our Saint— Engages on the felire
or Festokgy — Presents a copy of it to Fothadius the Canonist.
—Probable date, origin, and object of the Felire.
St. dingus continued to exercise his usual austerities, and re-
mained unknown to the monks and to the rest of mankind, for
seven whole years. At length, an unusual occurrence betrayed
the secret he seemed so anxious to conceal. Whilst JEngus was
at work one day in the monastery barn, a scholar who had
thoroughly prepared his lesson, and who was in conse-
quence afraid to appear in school, applied for admission and con-
cealment at least during that day. When ^Emms learned the
cause of this boy's uneasiness, he spoke kindly and with cheer-
mg assurances: pressing the child to his bosom, he contrived to
ull the scholar to sleep After some time, he was awakened,
to repeat his lesson.1 He proceeded in the task,
St. ^ngusius Hagiographus. 13
repeated every word to the end, and this was done without
hesitation or difficulty, dingus exacted from him a promise of
silence regarding these circumstances, and recommended him
immediately to seek his teacher. The latter, on examination of
his disciple, found him very well prepared on this day — an
occurrence of rare result in the boy's course of training. His
master, no less a personage than the Abbot, St, Melruan him-
self, insisted on learning the cause of his forwardness, at this
particular juncture. Awed by the Abbot's authority and earnest
manner, the boy revealed the circumstances of his case, as they
had actually occurred. By a sudden inspiration, a belief in the
identity of this monk with the missing JEngus of Dysartenos,
rushed upon the mind of the superior over the Tallaght com-
munity. He ran immediately to the barn, and embraced Aengus
with most tender affection, lavishing on him reproaches which
love and admiration could alone dictate. He was blamed for
the long-borne and humiliating, though willing, services ren-
dered to the community, and for that false humility, which
deprived it of the learning and experience possessed by so
great a master of the spiritual life. Aengus fell on his knees, at
the feet of Abbot Melruan, and he begged and obtained pardon
for those faults, which merited loving reproaches. From that
time forward, they became bosom friends, and unconscious rivals
in that holy ambition, by which a true saint is ever prompted.1
The literary labours, in which St. ^Engus engaged, have
given him very great celebrity through after times ; but in all
probability he had not then formed the most remote idea,
regarding this merited renown. His works are of exceeding
value, not only as having been composed, at a comparatively re-
mote period; but, because the subjects on which they treat give
them a historical value and importance, of which ancient pieces
can rarely boast. Fiction is too often blended with fact, in
many such tracts, to the great prejudice of their authenticity.
Numerous saints, that adorned the early Irish Church, are named
in his writings, and are thus preserved, for the veneration of
posterity. While his own name has been exalted by his various
works, the country that gave him birth derives no small share
of renown from accounts he has left, respecting her beatified
children. Hence, we are enabled to estimate the services of
-5£ngus to sacred learning and literature, in a new light; for
The affectionate, kind, and patient teacher was probably exemplified in the
case of JEngus ; and hence, the child might have been encouraged to greater
mental exercise by his instructions and the method he took in communicating
them.
1 Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi, Martii. Vita S. jEngussii, cap.
vii., viii., ix., p. 580.
14 Tfie Life and Works of
happily, in him we have found a true saint to record the actions
of his sanctified compatriots and predecessors.
No sooner had JSngus been called to fill a different sphere of
life in the monastery, from that in which he had been at first
exercised, than the unforgotten vision of angels seen in Cool-
banagher Church, and the purpose it evoked, came with new
force upon his recollection. Inspired by devotional feeling
and a poetical genius of no mean order, he took up his pen, and
the result was a metrical hymn in the Irish language, known as
the " Feilire", or in Latin, as the Festilogium of St .JSngus.1
In this canticle, he enumerates some of the principal saints,
whom he calls Princes of the Saints. The Festilogium is
brief, although saints' festivals are assigned to each day of the
week, with some allusions to characteristic virtues or actions of
each holy individual therein commemorated. There is a com-
mentary or series of notes found in the copies of this work, yet
extant. These comments relate many particulars, regarding
saints named in the Festilogium. We are at a loss to discover
whether these notes are attributable to the saintly author of the
poem itself, or to some scholiast belonging to a later age. The
latter supposition, however, is more probable. It is recorded,
that ^Engus, about the year 804, presented a copy of this work
to the learned lecturer, Fothadius, the Canonist, who returned
this compliment by the bestowal of another work, of which he
was author. This latter work is said to have been the famous
Remonstrance he drew up, as addressed to King Aidus, It
inveighs against the employment of ecclesiastics, in military
services.8
1 " A copy of his poem, called « FeKre', is preserved in the Leabhar Breac,
in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy".— Tracts Relating to Ireland.
Mutrcheartach MacNeilfs Circuit of Ireland, page 32, Mr. 0 'Donovan's Note
36, 1.A.S.'s Publications.
* The account regarding the expedition of Aedh Oirdnidhe is thus given at
the year 799, [recte 804] in 0 'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. pp.
408 to 411. "Aedh Oirdnidhe assembled a very great army to proceed into
Leinster, and devastated Leinster twice in one month. A full muster of the
men of Ireland (except the Leinster-men), both laity and clergy, was again
made by him [and he marched] until he reached Dun-Cuair, on the confines
of Meath and Leinster. Thither came Connmhach, successor of Patrick
having the clergy of Leath-Chuinn along with him. It was not pleasing to the
clergy to go upon any expedition ; they complained of their grievance to the
cmg, and the king, i.e., Aedh, said that he would abide by the award of
Fothadh na Canoine; on which occasion Fothadh passed the decision bv which
I the clergy of Ireland for ever from expeditions and listing's, when
"The Church of the living God, let her alone, waste her not,
Let her right be apart, as best it ever was.
Every true monk, who is of a pure conscience ;
For the Church to which it is due let him labour like everv servant
irery soldier from that out, who is without [religious] rule or obedience ,
St. jtEngusius Hagiograplms. 15
The brevity, which characterises the Feilire, was a conse-
quence of the object our saint appears to have had in view,
whilst engaged in its composition. For, as he had resolved on
imitating the practice of God's servant, whose remains were
entombed at Coolbanagher, it would be inexpedient to introduce
names of all the saints in his Festilogy. He was therefore
obliged to confine himself to recording some of the principal
ones. A recital of the entire Psalter, with his other daily exer-
cises, left him no more than sufficient time, for the invocation
and praises of saints included in his metrical hymn, which, it is
said, formed a part of his diurnal devotions. According to a
scholiast's account, left us in a preface to the Feilire, it would
appear, that this poem had not been composed, in its completed
form and in the same place. Some time must have elapsed from
its first writing, to its final revision.1 We are told, that the
Is permitted to aid the great Aedh, son of Niall.
This is the true rule, neither more nor less,
Let every one serve in his vocation without murmur or complaint.
The Church, etc.
" Aedh Oirdnidhe afterwards went to the King of Leinster, and obtained his
full demand from the Leinster men ; and Finsneachta, i£ing of Leinster, gave
him hostages and pledges". And at this passage, Mr. O'Donovan remarks,
that the decision of Fothadh na Canoine, or Fothad " of the canon", is referred
to in a preface to the Felire- Aenguis, preserved in the Leabhar Breac, fol. 32. On
this occasion Fothadh wrote a poem by way of precept to the king, in which
he advises him to exempt the clergy from the obligation of fighting his battles.
There is a copy of the entire poem preserved in a vellum manuscript, in
the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, H. 2. 18. It is also quoted in the
Leabhar-gabhala of the O'Clerys, p. 199. Ibid. n. (e) pp. 409, 410 This decision
of Fothadh obtained the name of a Canon ; and after its issue, the clergy were
exempted from attending military expeditions.
1 The following is the account given of this poem by Mr. O'Reilly in his
Chronological account of nearly Four Hundred Irish Writers, pp. liii. liv.,
when treating of ^Engus. " He wrote a Felire, or Hierology, in Irish verse,
giving an account of the festivals observed in the Church in his time. The
reimsceul, or preliminary discourse, prefixed to this performance, gives the
pedigree of the author, through several generations, by which it appears he was
descended from Caelbach, King of Ulster, who defeated and killed Muiredhach
Tireach, monarch of Ireland, at the battle of Fort Righ, and succeeded him on
the throne. The Reimsceul gives the time and place in which the author wrote
this poem". After quoting a portion of this reimsceul in Irish, the following
translation is given: " There are four co-necessaries in every learned treatise,
i.e., place, time, person, and cause of writing. Therefore, the place of this
piece was first Cul Banaghar, in the plain of Rechet, in the country of IFailge,
or O'Faly, and its revisal in Tamhlacht ; (now Tallagh near Dublin) or else in
Cluain Eidhnach it was begun, and in Cul Banaghar it was finished, and re-
vised in Tallaght. ^Engus, moreover, was son of Oiblein, son of Fidrai, son of
Dermod, son of Ainmirech, son of Cellair, son of JEnluaigh, son of Caelbaidh,
son of Cruinba-draoi, son of Eochaidh Coba, son of Lughdhach, son of Fiacha
Airidh, from whom are the Dal-Araidhe named. It is, moreover, the time of
its writing the time of Conor, son of Aodh Oirdnighe, son of Niall frasaigh, for
it was he who took the government of Ireland after Donagh, the son of Donali
of Meath, King of Meath ; for Angus, in the preface to the Felire, mentions
the death of Donogh". The Felire is written in that kind of verse called by
16 flie Life and Works of
noera had been commenced, either at Clonenagh or Cool-
Liacrher and that it had been revised at Tallaght. From the
relation already given, we feel inclined rather to suppose, as the
stay of ^Engus at Coolbanagher appears to have been of no
(Treat duration, when about to pursue his way towards Tal-
lacrht, that his idea of writing the Feilire had been conceived
only at the former place, and matured at the latter, where it
would seem to have been solely written. It was most probably
composed1 after the year 797, the date for the death of Donogh,
or Donnchadh, son to Donall.2 Such conjecture agrees with
the Irish poets rinn aird, in which every verse ends with a word of two
syllables, contains six syllables in the verse, and the entire rann twenty-four.
It begins,
" Re fit, -o£Uc
Cj\ifc In CAlen
" Literal translation :
" In the congregation of the seed of man,
Went the king before us,
Submitted to the noble law
Christ, on the Calends of January".
• » » * * « *
" A copy of the Felire, beautifully written on vellum, is in the collection of
the Assistant Secretary [O'Reilly.] From its orthography, and other internal
marks of antiquity, it may be concluded that this MS. was written at least as
early aa the eleventh century, and is, perhaps, the oldest copy of that work
now in existence. There is an entire copy in the Leabhar Breac Mac Aed-
hagain, or Speckled book of Mac Egan, in the Library of the Royal Irish
Academy, and an imperfect copy on vellum in the same library".
1 During the progress of the late Ordnance Survey of Ireland the Felire or
Festology of ^Engus came first to be noticed, as a topographical tract of great
value. Under the able superintendence of Sir Thomas Larcom and Dr. George
Petrie, Eugene 0' Curry brought it to bear, with important results, on our
local topography, in every part of Ireland. The Rev. Dr. Todd suggested to
the Board of Trinity College the engagement of Eugene O'Curry to make a
fac-simile copy, for its library, of the Leabhar Mor Duna Doighre" or Leabhar
Breac, in which the Festo^v is contained. On the Ordnance Survey Archae-
ological Department bei.g dispensed with, Mr. George Smith, an eminent
Dublin publisher, engaged Mr. O'Curry to transcribe the Festology, once more,
with a view to its publication. " This, however, was not a fac-simile copy,
which indeed it would be practically useless to print, even if such a thing were
possible, because the tract consists, properly, of three parts ; namely, the text
of the poem, the interlined gloss, and the interlined marginal, topographical,
and other notes". These three parts were distinctly copied, all the contrac-
tions were lengthened out, and the whole disposed and arranged in such a
manner as to merit the approval of our most distinguished Irish scholars. This
copy was afterwards collated with other MS. in London and Oxford. Yet, the
copy thus prepared has not been published ; the transcript and translation into
English remained in the possession of Mr. Smith, who, we believe, has since
transferred this copy to the Royal Irish Academicians.
8 O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. n. (r.), p. 399, where we
read : " O'Flaherty places the accession of Donnchadh in the year 770, and his
death in 797, which is the true chronology. He adds: " Quo rege, Anno 795,
Dani Scotiae, et Hiberniae oras infeetare coparunt".— Ogygia, p. 433". The
St. ^Engusius Hagiographus 17
that of Colgan, that the scholia on the Festilogy of JEngus had
been composed at Tallagh in the time of Malruan.1
V. — Description and analysis of St. ^Engus1 Festology. — He
resided at Dysart Bethach at the period of its completion. — Its
first circulation in the reign of Aldus the Sixth. — The Martyr-
ology of Tallagh, and interesting particulars regarding this
composition.
We are indebted to the late distinguished Irish scholar, Pro-
fessor Eugene O'Curry, for a particular description and analysis
of JEngus' metrical Festology or Felire? This composition
consists of three distinct parts. The first part, known as the
Invocation, contains five quatrains, which ask grace and sancti-
fication from Christ on the poet's work. It is written in the
ancient Conachlannt or what modern Gaelic scholars call " chain-
verse", in English. By such metrical arrangement, the last
words of each quatrain are identical, or nearly so, with the first
words of that succeeding.3 The second part, as we are told, is
Annals of Ulster, however, assign the death of this monarch to A.D. 796, and
the Four Masters to A.D. 792. I am unable to discover any notice regarding
Conor, Son of Aodh Oirdnighe, mentioned by the scholiast on JEngus' poem,
in any of our early Annals.
1 Of this Fdirfor Festology— sometimes called the Martyrology of Aengus
Ceile De, six copies, at least, are known to be extant, and four of these are on
vellum. Two copies are preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford ; one, if
not two, at St. Isidore's College, Rome ; one in the Burgundian Library, Brus-
sels ; one, a transcript, made for Dr, Todd, by Professor O'Curry ; and one,
found in the celebrated Leabhar Mor Duna Doighrg— commonly called the
Leabhar Bi eac — compiled about the year 1400, and now in possession of the
Koyal Irish Academy, Dublin. " There is a short history of the author, and
the tract prefixed to this eopy, which commenced, as such Gaedhlic documents
usually do, with gbing the name of the author, the time, the place, and the
object of the composition. There is, then, a short disquisition on this arrange-
ment, in which the usages of the philosophers and the order of the creation
are referred to as precedents". See Lectures on Jkc* Manuscript Materials of
Ancient Irish History, Lect. xvii. p. 363. ^
2 In O'Reilly's Chronological Account of nearly Four Hundred Irish Writers,
p. liiL, it receives the designation of a Hierology.
3 An illustration, in the Irish language and character, will be found in Lec-
tures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History, Appendix No. cxiii.
p. 610, and which has been published from the original, contained in the
Leabhar Breac—& MS. belonging to the Royal Irish Academy. The five stanzas
in Irish have been thus rendered into English, by Mr. O'Curry : —
" Sanctify, O Christ! my words :—
O Lord of the seven heavens !
Grant me the gift of wisdom,
O Sovereign of the bright sun !
0 bright sun, who dost illumine
The heavens with all thy holiness !
O King who governest the angels !
O Lord of all the people!
VOL. V. 2
18 The Life and Works of
a poem, by way of preface, and it consists of two hundred and
twenty quatrains. But of these only eighty are found prefixed
to the main poem, or chief subject matter. The remaining one
hundred and forty quatrains are postfixed to the main poem,
and these are called the post or second preface, by Mr. O'Curry.
We may rather, perhaps, consider them in the light of those
verses, which many of our medieval and modern poets designate
the " L'Envoy", as the conclusion of a poem. The verses are
in a similar character, and follow the like measure, as they are
indeed a continuation of the Invocation. The eighty stanzas,
prefixed to the main poem, in very beautiful and forcible lan-
guage give us a very glowing account regarding the sufferings
and tortures of the early Christian martyrs ; how their perse-
cutors' names have been forgotten, while those of their victims
were remembered with honour, veneration, and affection ; how
Pilate's wife sinks into oblivion, while the Blessed Virgin Mary
has been remembered and venerated from earth's uttermost
bounds to its centre. Even in Ireland, the enduring supremacy
of Christ's Church had been manifested. Tara had been aban-
doned and become a desert, because its kings were vain-glorious,
while Armagh remains the populous seat of dignity, piety, and
learning. Cruachain, a former royal residence of the Connaught
kings, is deserted, while Clonmacnois resounds with the dashing
of chariots and tramp of multitudes to honour St. Ciaran's
shrine. Aillinn's royal palace had passed away, while St.
Brigid's church at Kildare retained its dazzling splendour. Ul-
0 Lord of the people !
0 King all righteous and good !
May I receive the full benefit
Of praising Thy royal hosts.
Thy royal hosts I praise,
Because Thou art my Sovereign ;
1 have disposed my mind,
To be constantly beseeching Thee.
1 beseech a favour from Thee,
That I be purified from my sins
Through the peaceful bright- shining flock,
The royal host whom I celebrate".
We are mformed, that General Vallancey and Theophihis O'Flanagan, having
met with this poem— which is rather a conspicuous one-in theLeabhar Breac,
and finding the name of Christ contractedly written CK, with a horizontal
dash over these two letters, considered they had found an address to the sun.
8 was a supposed proof of the former worship of that luminary by the
ancient Irish. Ihe letters C B were presumed to have been a contraction for
.reas which, from the books of Indian Brahmins and the Sanscrit, Vallancey
ctured to be a name for the sun, common both to Ireland and India. These
IP? General Vallancey, with a highly poetical translation of Aengus' poSJ
ere embodied in a small printed pamphlet. This was addressed •' To the Pre -
St. ^Engwius Hagiographus. 19
ster's royal palace at Emania had disappeared, while the holy
Coemghen's church at Gleann-da-locha remains in full glory.
The monarch Leaghaire's pomp and pride were extinguished,
while St. Patrick's name continues to shine with undiminished
lustre. Thus, the poet continues to contrast fleeting and for-
gotten names and reputations of great men and establishments,
belonging to the pagan and secular world, with the stability,
freshness, and splendour of Christian Churches, and the ever-
flourishing names of their illustrious, although often humble
founders. The third part is properly the Felire, or Festological
Poem itself, and it is comprised within three hundred and sixty-
five quatrains, which, the reader will observe, forms a stanza for each
day in the year. The Circumcision of our Lord is placed at the
head of the Festivals, and with it the FelirS begins.1 This
poem is not wholly confined to notices of the Irish saints. Our
great national Apostle, St. Patrick, is commemorated at the
17th of March.2 And again, at the 13th of April, Bishop
Tassagh, one of St. Patrick's favourite companions, is recorded.8
Bishop Tassagh was chief manufacturer and ornamenter of
croziers, crosses, bells, and shrines, and attended St. Patrick at
his death.
The whole of this, which is the chief poem, as also the first
preface, is thickly interlined with an ancient gloss and commen-
tary. These explain difficult or obsolete words and passages.
Sometimes, notes may be found on the sites of ancient churches,
connected with our Irish saints, who lived to the time of our
author. Occasional passages from their Lives and Miiacles will
be seen. These notes are interspersed over the margin, and
1 In the Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History,
Appendix No. cxiv. p. 611, may be seen the first stanza of this part of the
poem in the Irish language and character, as extracted from the original found
in the Leabhar JBreac, E. I. A. It has been thus rendered into English by
Mr. O'Curry:-
" At the head of the congregated saints,
Let the King take the first place :
Unto the noble dispensation did submit
Christ — on the calends of January".
8 See Ibid,, Appendix, No. cxv., for the Irish stanza, thus rendered into
English ;—
" The blaze of a splendid sun,
The apostle of stainless Erinn,
Patrick — with his countless thousands,
May he shelter our wretchedness".
8 See Ibid., Appendix, No. cxvi. for the Irish stanza, thus rendered into
English :—
" The kingly Bishop Tassagh
Who administered on his arrival,
The body of Christ— the truly powerful King—
And the Communion to Patrick".
2s
The late Albe Le Hir
they require close and accurate study to connect them with
thefr appropriate textual passages. The three parts, or cantos,
nTwmVthe entire poem has been divided may be treated,
Indeed, u one continuous composition. The last words of the
Invocation are the first words to the first preface of eighty
stanzas; while the last words of this preface are the first words
of the main poem; and again, the last words of this ^ chief poem
are the first words of the post or second preface, which consists
of one hundred and forty stanzas.1
(To be concluded in our next.}
THE LATE ABBE LE HIR ON THE AUTHENTICITY
OF I. JOHN, v. 7.
On the verse TRES SUNT, etc., considered in the context, and
with reference to the teaching of St. John.
FIRST PART.2
I REDUCE to .three propositions the entire matter of which I
undertake to treat in this paper.
I. The seventh verse, which is the subject of the controversy,
contains nothing that is not thoroughly in keeping with the
ordinary current of St. John's thoughts.
II. Although, absolutely speaking, the sixth verse may be
connected with the eighth without the intervention of the
seventh verse, such an arrangement would interfere considerably
with the harmony of the discourse, the full development of the
doctrine, and the depth of the meaning.
III. The seventh verse is necessary to explain the ninth and
tenth verses, which, without the seventh, have no support on
which to rest.
1 The Felire or Festologies are closely connected with lives of the saints.
That of Aengus especially receives the praise of M. de la Villemarque in the
November number of the French periodical, Le Correspondant, for 1863.
* We translate from the Etudes Religieuses, etc., (Sept. 1868, pag. 378, seq.)
this dissertation of the learned Sulpiciaii, Le Hir, on the authenticity of the
text of the Three Heavenly Witnesses, I. John, v. 7. The editors of the
periodical to which we are indebted for this valuable paper remark that, although
M. Le Hir had composed this dissertation some years ago, he never considered
at as a finiihed production. On the contrary, the MS. exhibits on the margin
of each page a great many notes, references, and corrections, which show that
the author had it in view to return upon and complete his work. Notwith-
standing this drawback, the editors of the Etudes consider the dissertation to b«
of inestimable value. We are of opinion that our readers will concur in the
opinion.
on the Authenticity of 1. John, v. 7. %i
The idea which runs through verse 7 is an appeal to the tes-
timony of the Three Divine Persons. Now it is a simple matter
of fact that the writings of the beloved disciple frequently
present this appeal. I could easily collect a large number of
such passages even in the other writers of the New Testament.
How often have they not alluded to the solemn words of the
Father: " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased".
This declaration, made on the day the Saviour was baptized,
and repeated at His transfiguration on Mount Thabor, is found
six times in the New Testament. St. Peter, in his second
epistle, dwells intentionally upon it, to confound the very same
Gnostics whom St. John was afterwards to oppose. " for we
have not followed cunningly devised fables (such as those of your
teachers) when we made known to you the power and presence of
our Lord Jesus Christ, but having been made eye-witness of His
majesty. For, He received from God the Father honour and
glory; this voice coming down to Him from the excellent glory:
' This is my beloved Son, in whom 1 have pleased myself: hear ye
Him'" (II. Peter, i. 16-17). St. John, who was with his Master
on Thabor as well as on Calvary, must have been full of
similar recollections. But let us hear himself.
It is true that, faithful to his scope of completing in his gospel
the narrative left by the other evangelists, he contents himself
with a simple allusion to facts already well known, but he dwells
at greater length upon other facts, which without him would
have remained unknown. These words of his exordium contain but
a bare allusion, " Vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi unigeniti
a Patre". The formal testimony is given in the following : " Si
ego testimonium perhibeo de me ipso testimonium meum non
est verura. Alius est qui testimonium perhibet de me" — Joan.
v. 31-32. And in vv. 36-37, " Ego habeo testimonium majus
Joanne .... ipsa opera quae ego facio testimonium perhibent
de me, quia Pater misit me ; et qui misit me Pater ipse testi-
monium perhibet de me". And again (Joan. viii. 17-18): "In
lege vestra scriptum est quia duorum hominum testimonium
verum est. Ego sum qui testimonium perhibeo de me ipso ; et
testimonium perhibet de me, qui misit me, Pater". In these
passages we find the testimony of the Son united to that of the
Father, as in the epistle, and in addition we find the formal an-
nouncement of an intention of satisfying by this number of
witnesses the strict letter of the law.
The testimony of the Holy Ghost is yet to be added. The
Saviour appeals to it frequently in the three first Gospels, and
He even declares that the sin of the Pharisees, who reject it, is
the most irremissible of all. And when He promises (Joan. xv.
26) -to send it to His apostles, it is as a witness He is to send it:
" ille testimonium perhibebit de me".
22 The late Able Le Hlr
Now, if the first epistle of the apostle is but an echo of his
Gospel— if it follows the same order of thought and of doctrine
as his Gospel— if even, according to the conjecture of some
moderns, it is the preface to that Gospel, nothing is more
natural than that it should make mention of the three heavenly
witnesses so frequently cited in the larger work
Nor would it be difficult to indicate in the epistle itself several
corresponding passages where the testimony of the heavenly wit-
nesses is invoked in terms more or less clear. But it is needless
to insist on this point, since it is admitted by all. " When we
take in at a single glance", says one of the latest commentators
on St. John's Epistles, " the contents of the entire letter, it is
not difficult to connect the idea of the three heavenly witnesses
with this or that passage of the epistle. But it does not thence
follow that it is therein mentioned, and especially it does not follow
that its mention is necessary".1
We avail ourselves of this admission, nor do we ask more
than the writer declares his readiness to grant. We do not aim
at drawing from those parallel passages more than the beginning
of a proof, or what we may call a prejudice favourable to our
case.
From this admission, supplied in our favour by a general
view of the epistle as a whole, our adversaries summon us to
another field where they hope to overcome us more easily. The
question, say they, must be reduced to a narrower issue: we
must examine the passage itself, and follow the thread of the
ideas, and the connection between the verses which immediately
precede and follow verse 7; thus we shall find that verse 7
is like an obstacle which stops the way, and breaks violently
in upon the order of the ideas. We willingly accept the
challenge; but, as the passage is difficult, and its meaning
obscure and variously explained, we must premise some his-
torical details without which the text is not to be understood.
Everybody is aware that the beloved disciple was persuaded
by the faithful of Asia to take up his pen at an advanced
age, and to write his Gospel for the purpose of refuting and
confounding the numerous sects which were then springing
up to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ. Among these sects
ancient writers have named particularly that of Cerinthus and
of the Nicholaites, warning us at the same time that they were
not the only ones, and that there were several others of the same
class. What they say of the Gospel is true also of the first
epistle of St. John. It is admitted by all that the epistle is
1 Handbuch uber die drei Bretfe des Johannes, etc., by Dr. J. E. Huther This
sntary, which is highly esteemed in Germany, forms part of the con-
tinuation of the commentary on the N. T. by Dr. Henry Aug. Wil. Meyer.
on the Authenticity of I. John, v. 7. 23
directed against Cerinthus ; and in spite of the contrary opinion
of some interpreters, I am convinced that it deals quite as much,
or even more, with some errors similar to those of the Nico-
laites. These errors I now proceed to point out.
Cerinthus, an imperfectly converted Pharisee, half-Jew, half-
Christian, has left behind him a name very famous among the
antagonists of the apostles. We are led to believe that he was a
Gnostic before everything, although in the scanty details which
have come down to us, we meet with no reproaches directed
against his morals or his moral doctrines.1 We are here chiefly
concerned with the conception he had formed of the Man-God.
In His opinion Jesus was a virtuous man, upon whom, on the
day of his baptism, descended a power which emanated from
God, and which he called Christ, which imparted a sort of
divine filiation2 and the power of working miracles. If, in
virtue of this union, Jesus was called Son of God, it was only
for a time and metaphorically, since the union was not to be
lasting, and had never constituted one person with the two
natures. It lasted until the passion, at which time, Christ, aban-
doning Jesus to His sad lot, departed for on high.
The Nicolaites were a branch of the great Gnostic heresy,
and, in the absence of more complete details,3 this enables us to
form a general idea of their errors concerning our Saviour.
The old writers were especially struck with their abominable
immorality, already condemned in St. John's Apocalypse, and
it is from this point of view that they describe them to us.
" Nullam difFerentiam esse docentes in moechando et idolothy-
tum edere", says St. Irenaeus (Haer., i., 26, 3). ESt'Sao-Kcv
aSm^Ojomv j3tou re »cat j3jow(t£we, says the author of the Phi-
losophumena (vii. 36). Such strange excesses followed from
their principles on the origin of things, and on the nature of
the redemption wrought by Christ. These principles, infected
with Pantheism and fatalism, were common to all those branches
of Gnosticism.
It would seem that under these two sects, the ancient writers
meant to include all the others which were engrafted on the
same trunk, whether they belonged to those who theoretically
developed the principles and mysticism known as the Gnosis,
or to those who were remarkable, on the contrary, for carrying
out these principles to their logical consequences, which upset
1 According to St. Irenaeus, he embraced the speculative errors of the Gnos-
tics (Marginal note).
2 The Movoyevric is the father of the Aoyog, and the X/oioroe apparently
differs from one and the other, according to St. Irenaeus' s account of the doc-
trine of Cerinthus and of the Nicolaites (Marginal note.)
3 St. Irenaeus tells us that they had taught the same errors before (multo
prius) Cerinthus (Marginal note.)
24 The late Abbe Le HIT
the entire moral order. One point, at all events, is clear,
namely, that the antagonists against whom the apostle raises his
voice had grievously erred both in dogma and morals. What-
ever may have been their special appellation, they are followers
of the Gnosis, imbued with all the poison it contained. This
will be plain from the following comparisons.
The Gnosis1 held God to be an inaccessible, ideal being, a
sort of abstraction without direct relations with the world. It
taught that all beings proceeded from God by emanation, by a
sort of radiation, the rays growing weaker in proportion to
their distance from the centre, the remoter circles being almost
without a share of the divine being, and at last reaching to the
night, to exterior darkness, to non-being, or, in other terms, to
the world of matter which the Gnostics compared to non-being.
This dark and material world possesses nothing good or real,
except its form, which, however, does not belong to it, having
been stolen from the world of light. The lightsome world, ex-
pansive by its own nature, has poured out into the darkness
millions of sparks, or rather of reflections and imprints of its
own rays. These luminous reflections or imprints are the souls
which inform bodies, which give them life, and without which
the bodies would be nothing. However, by a contradiction
which causes no surprise in the syncretism of the dark dreams
of which we are attempting an analysis, this inert matter retains
in captivity the souls that have fallen into it. Taken as a
whole, it constitutes this visible world, created, fashioned, and
governed, or rather tyrannised over, by the demiurge, a kind of
Satan, or of fallen angel full of malice or ignorance. Hence
the necessity, or at least the propriety, of a restoration of those
oppressed souls. The Gnostic theory substitutes for the Chris-
tian idea of true redemption through the blood of the Incar-
nate Word, that of a deliverance of a very different kind.
Christ, either so-called, or a heavenly virtue of some kind,
holds, it is true, the first place in this scheme of redemption.
But he can neither suffer nor die. Either by the very fact of
His birth, which resembles that of Pandora, or in the pleroma
of the divine Aeons, or, according to other fictions, by the fact
of His descent upon the earth through the heavenly spheres ; in
some one way or other He holds in Himself the superior world;
He possesses, eithor in His own nature, or as an outer garment
adhering to Him, some element of the different spheres from
which the souls of men are fallen. He descends even to these
low places. He contracts with flesh and blood an external and
nugatory union. This is but a trick to deceive the Demiurge,
.| anci*ntform> and as it came from the Cabala; for, at a
period, there were Gnostic sects who professed a more decided dualism.
on the Authenticity of 1. John, v. 7. 25
and whilst the latter believes that he is triumphing over Christ
in person, he is nailing to the cross only a fleshly body which is
his own work. The impassible Christ has ascended to heaven,
with the souls which were attached to that portion of Christ in
which they recognized their own proper nature. As He as-
cended thus to heaven, He deposited in each of the ethereal
regions all that He had taken thence with Him when He des-
cended, and at the same time left there the souls replaced in
the various degrees of the scale which they respectively occupied
before their fall into matter. Thus, the deliverance of souls,
which is not equal for all, depends upon the origin of each of
them, more or less noble, more or less pure as it had been. It
is nature and not free will which decides this. The perfect
Gnostic, who came down from a higher sphere, will go to reign
also in a higher sphere, whatever may have been his conduct
here below. He alone is spiritual, alone impeccable, alone illu-
mined with the splendour of science, and consequently he alone
is destined to supreme happiness, whatever he may do, and
whatever all men may do. This is the abyss which swallowed
up all morality, this is the source of that pride amounting
almost to delirium, which the apostle smites with his anathemas.
Let us examine what he says of it, and it will be difficult not
to see in his words a deliberate intention of condemning the
hideous doctrine we have just described. He stigmatizes the
children of lies by marking them on the forehead with three
marks of shame that all may recognize. They are the men
who say that they are without sin, who do not keep the com-
mandments, and who have no brotherly love. Is not this the
exact portrait of the Gnostic, who denies the distinction between
good and evil deeds, who styles himself perfect, and who, in-
stead of respecting his flesh as the work of God, hates it as
the work of the Demiurge, and who vents his hatred upon it by
loading it with infamy ; of the Gnostic, in a word, who in St.
Jude as well as in our epistle of St. John, is compared to Cain,
who slew his brother?
The true children of God are known by three opposite charac-
ters. They have recourse to the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse
themselves therein, they keep His commandments, and they love
one another. By these means they attain the end which the
Gnostics promise, and which according to them is exclusively re-
served for their own adepts ; for, firstly, they receive the pardon of
all their sins ; secondly, they attain to the knowledge of God the
Father ; thirdly, they triumph over all the spirits of evil who
oppose their progress towards the supreme good, to which they
are to be united by an intimate and eternal union.
All these blessings spring from their faith in Jesus Christ,, the
26 • TJie late AIM Le Hlr
true son of God, true God, who was made man and died for the
salvation of the world. This faith, therefore, rests upon the
eternal truth. The effects of grace and holiness which it pro-
duces in the soul are sure pledges of this ; and as these effects
proceed from the Spirit of God, all must, at length, be referred
to his testimony. But besides this indirect testimony, there is
another more direct one, which the Three Divine Persons have
rendered to Jesus Christ, either in express terms or by miraculous
signs. The apostle, naturally, would not omit mention of this,
especially when giving a succinct statement of his proofs. But
whatever opinion may be formed on this point, to which we shall
be obliged to return, our present aim is to establish by this
double analysis of the points common to all the Gnostic sects and
of St. John's epistle, that this epistle, taken as a whole, is directed
against them. Let any one read it again with a mind filled with
what we have said, and it will be found that there is hardly a
single verse which has not a new light thrown upon it, and
which will not remind him of some error. Each blow of our
powerful athlete strikes home with such precision and such force,
that it leaves in the heart of heresy a deep and deadly wound.
We should be in a better position to see this, if we had
a more accurate and fuller knowledge of the numerous branches
that, from the days of the apostles themselves, sprang from the
great Gnostic tree, and of the various shades special to each of
them. I wish to draw attention to two of them in particular, which
are undoubtedly very ancient, and which seem to have excited
the zeal of the^ apostle. The first is that of the Naassenians or
Ophites, to which I may add other kindred sects in which the
worship of the serpent was largely practised, such as that of the
Perates and of the Sethians ; the second is that of the Docetes.
The antiquity of the Naassenians is proved by the testimony
of the author of the Philosophumena, who describes them as the
genuine parents of Gnosticism. " At a later date", says he, " they
called themselves Gnostics, pretending that they ulone knew the
depths. To these last words allusion is made in the Apocalypse
(verse 24): Whosoever have not this doctrine, and who have not
known the depths of Satan (as they say)", etc. Now this proves
that St. John combated the Naassenians under the name of
Nicolaites,an<^that these two sects were one and the same, or at
least very closely resembling each other. The figures by which
the Naassenians described he Deity, representing Him by the
symbol of generation and of life, and all the various speculations
in which they indulged on this subject, are quite in keeping
with the shocking dissoluteness with which the Nicolaites wert
reproached. I think therefore that I am quite correct in affirm-
ing that St John either included these sectarians under the
on the Authenticity of I. John, v. 7. 27
generic name of Balaam! tes, Nicolai'tes, etc., or else fought
against them without mentioning their name.
Now we are specially concerned with the doctrines held by
these fanatics with respect to blood and water. Condemning the
flesh as evil, and rejecting marriage, they could not but feel a
repugnance and horror of blood. Hence we find that they ex-
plained in an allegorical sense our Saviour's words, " Unless you
eat my flesh and drink my blood", etc., (Philosoph. v. 8, p. 152).
As to water, they saw therein the greatest mysteries. The recol-
lection of the waters above, mentioned in Genesis ; the frequent
ablutions prescribed to the Jews from out of whom these fanatics
came, inspired them with reverence and respect for this element.
In their opinion, water was an intermediate and complex being,
barren of itself, but destined to fertilise the superior or inferior
beings with whom it was brought into relation. Water, as it
rose or fell, aided the generation of gods or of men. They
spoke too of a living water and of an ineffable oil of which
they alone possessed the secret, with which they alone were bap-
tized and anointed. They knew how to discover and take up
into their own substance from the midst even of the waters of
the Euphrates and of Babylon, the elements that were homoge-
neous with themselvei, and which opened to them the gate of
the kingdom of heaven (Ibid., p. 140, 175). As the Egyptians
(from whom they borrowed much) distinguished between the
earthly Nile and the heavenly Nile, so they too recognized
a heavenly Jordan (p. 151), and in the Garden ,of Eden a
heavenly Euphrates (p. 173).
The Perates, so called from irtpcu*) (to pass), because they be-
lieved that they alone had an infallible secret, by aid of which
they might pass through all obstacles and hostile powers, and
the Sethians, so called from Seth the patriarch, assigned in
their mythology a very important place to the serpent. Their
opinions concerning water, although apparently opposed to those
of the Naassenians, were in reality not so unlike to them. They
considered water to be the symbol of death, destruction, and
darkness. "Ecm & rj tiOopa, 0r)<ri, TO ZSup (Phil, 190, 210).
Water was for them also the principle of generation and of life,
but of a mortal life ; for, they said, whatever is born must die.
Their attention was chiefly fixed upon the lower darksome
waters of chaos. They admitted, however, as an allegory, the
escape from Egypt through the Red Sea. Egypt was a figure
of matter, of the body from which they should depart, passing
through the waters to reach repose and happiness. This allegory
would go to prove that they did not exclude baptism, and that,
like the Naassenians, they made water the principle of pscychi-
cal or animal life, middle between body and spirit. This proof
23 The late Able le Hlr
is completed by the three terms of their first triad, the Father,
the Son, and Matter; the second, intermediate between the first
and the last, is identified with the good serpent (6/ca0oAi»coe 60/c)
which in turn, is described as the water issuing from Eden.
Touro, 0Wv, £<n* juvorijjOtov 'ESI/i, TOVTO iroTafj.og £? ESc/z
( Philosoph., p. 192).1
Of blood, they said, that it was agreeable only to the De-
miurge, the god of this world, who showed how greedy he is
of it, when he was pleased with the blood sacrifice of Abel,
while he rejected the fruits of the earth offered to him by
Cain (Ibid., p. 192).
These are the traits which we have ^brought together as
deserving of special attention in an exegetical study of the text
of St. John. They are not all of equal antiquity. On the con-
trary, it seems as if those fanatics, accustomed to alter whatever
they adopted, took from St. John himself some texts which
they wrested into a support for their frantic dreams. But, even
if they adapted new texts to old ideas and theories, our line of
argument is conclusive, because, though the words may be new,
the ideas are undoubtedly of a much older date.
We shall say the same of the Docetes, another Gnostic sect,
which undoubtedly goes back to the first century, although they
afterwards clothed their ideas in phrases perverted from St.
John's writings. Ancient writers do not count them among
the heretics refuted by St. John, and several of the moderns
still refuse to count them among such. But, if it be certain that
they existed in his time, as is now admitted ; if the apostolic
fathers St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp have fought against them
with the arguments, and at times with the very words of St.
John ; if the expressions themselves of the evangelist bear the
impress of a most direct contradiction of their doctrines, why
should it be denied that St. John wished to reach them and to
confute them ? As long as we were confined to the imperfect
details furnished concerning them by St. Irenaeus and other
recent fathers, there was perhaps some excuse for the doubt.
All that was known of their doctrines was that according to
them Christ had not become incarnate, save in appearance, that
He was not really united to flesh and blood, and had not really
endured for us torments and death. What, then, was the body
which had been crucified under Pontius Pilate? Was it a mere
phantom, or the body of Simon the Cyrenean, or of some other
1 This same serpent, this Word which appeared in human form in the time
of Herod, is also, according to the Gnostic dreams, the mark placed upon
Cain's forehead that no one should kill him. Does not the predilection thus
evinced by these heretics for the first murderer, give a special reason for the
lesignation of children, or imitators of Cain, given them by St. John, St. Jude,
on the Authenticity of I. John, v. 7. 29
person? We Had a vague knowledge that the Docetes had
invented more than one hypothesis to solve this difficulty. The
publication of the Philosophumena has furnished us with some
precise information on these points. I omit all that concerns
the divine emanations, the fall of souls, the captivity in the
flesh, their final state of restoration — on these points their ideas
were those common to all the Gnostics. I limit myself to what
they say of our Saviour aud of His manifestation in the world.
In our Saviour they recognize the only-begotten Son of the
Father, who came down to the empire of darkness, and to the
Virgin's womb, in which He was clothed with a human and
gross body. But this garment was not a personal one, since it
was but a device to deceive the prince of this world. The
Saviour, at His Baptism, was born again, and put on a more
subtle body, formed in the water, if such words can be applied
to a purely fantastic form modelled upon that of His earthly
body. In the Passion, it was only the body formed in the
womb of Mary that was fastened to the cross. The great
Archon, or Demiurge, whose handiwork it was, was thus de-
ceived, and led to vent his rage upon his own production. For
the soul, or spiritual and heavenly substance which had been
enclosed in the Saviour's flesh, cast off that flesh as an inconve-
nient and hateful garment ; and lending its own help to fasten it to
the cross, triumphed by aid of that very flesh over the princi-
palities and powers. However, after the separation, it did not
remain naked, but was clothed in that subtle shape which it had
taken at its second birth in baptism (Ibid., viii. 10).
There are some points in this theory which are remarkable,
as bringing it near, partly to the error of Cerinthus, and partly
to that of the Ophites. Firstly, the admission that the earthly
body formed in the Virgin's womb, and afterwards fixed on the
cross, was a real body ; they deny only the reality and perman-
ence of the union of this body with the heavenly spirit which
dwells therein ; and secondly, the importance attached to the
Saviour's baptism, and the place assigned to water as an inter-
mediate element between flesh and spirit, in this, as in the sys-
tems explained above.
With the help of these historical details, it will be easier for
us to undertake the explanation we have promised, of the fifth
and following verses.
30
SAVONAROLA.
A FEW months ago the representatives of the Protestant states
of Germany assembled at Worms to inaugurate a national
monument to Luther. Not content with commemorating the
great father of Protestantism, they wished at the same time to
register the names of those who were his precursors and the
champions of his tenets in earlier times ; and hence, around
the pedestal of Luther's statue were grouped the portraits of
Wickliffe, Huss, Peter de Vaux, and Savonarola.
It is strange, indeed, that in a country which boasts of its
historical research, the name of the Italian religious should be
allowed to remain for one hour inscribed on such a monument.
However, France, England, and Germany had each a repre-
sentative among the heroes of Protestantism, and it was deemed
important to find a name from the now friendly kingdom of
Italy. How different was the honour shown to Savonarola by
his contemporaries and fellow-citizens !
Florence has ever been jealous of its Catholic faith, and yet it
has never ceased to revere his memoiy. It cherishes as a sanc-
tuary the dwelling-place of its holy bishop, St. Antoninus. It
points with pride to the halls where the great council was cele-
brated, and to the apartments at San Marco, chosen for his resi-
dence by Pope Eugene the Fourth. And with no less reverence
does it still guard the humble cell of Savonarola.
It was only a few years after the death of Savonarola when
Raffaello received an order from Pope Julius the Second to
execute that masterpiece of art which still adorns the Vatican,
and in which the Catholic world is represented as grouped
around the blessed sacrament of the altar. Now in the capital
of holy Church, and under the eyes of the Pontiff, Jerome
Savonarola was represented in that wondrous painting, united
with St. Thomas of Aquin, as a doctor of the Catholic faith, and
an ornament of the order of St. Dominick. Thus the monu-
ment of Worms shall be forgotten ere the Catholic fame of
the Florentine Dominican shall cease to be proclaimed to the
civilized world in this masterpiece of Raffaello.
In later times the memory of Savonarola was honoured by
members of the Church remarkable alike for their sanctity and
for the earnestness of their zeal in opposing heresy. St. Catherine
de Ricci revered him as an apostle and martyr. St. Philip Neri
venerated him as one who had achieved great things for holy
Church, and had merited to suffer much in that sacred cause. In
the year 1558 his eulogy was publicly pronounced in the pre-
sence of the then Pontiff, Paul the Fourth; and we may add
Savonarola. 31
that, under this same Pope, the writings of Savonarola were
examined by a special congregation of the Index, and yet
nothing was found in them to deserve the name of heresy.
With such facts before them, the German admirers of Luther
would have acted wisely to pause awhile before they inscribed
on their national monument to heresy the name of Savonarola.
Jerome Savonarola was born at Ferrara on September 21st,
1452. In his youth he studied the works of Plato and Aristotle,
and his mind was deeply imbued with the principles of St.
Thomas Aquinas. At the age of twenty-three he entered, as
an humble brother, the Dominican convent in Bologna. Here
his talents and his piety won for him the esteem and admiration
of all who approached him, and in 1488 he was chosen to fill
the important post of prior of the Convent of St. Mark's, in
Florence.
Savonarola soon acquired boundless influence, political and
religious, in Florence. The city, indeed, was at this time the
theatre of political events which have scarcely a parallel in
history. When the French monarch, Charles the Eighth, en-
tered Florence with his triumphant army, he demanded from
the citizens one hundred and twenty thousand gold crowns, as
the price of their being freed from pillage. Twenty-four hours
were allowed to collect the sum. The required amount, how-
ever, could not be raised, and the city was doomed to des-
truction. For more than a year the Dominican prior had
warned the people that their profligacy and sinful lives would
draw down on them the wrath of God : and now it seemed as
if his prophecy was to be fulfilled. The terrified inhabitants
flocked around his cell at St. Mark's to confess their guilt and
to ask his intercession in their behalf. For a while Jerome
remained inactive. "I shall go to the king", he at length
replied, " and I shall implore his mercy". Savonarola presented
himself at the palace gates, but was refused admittance: he
persevered, however, in his efforts, and finally was led before
the king. Drawing a crucifix from his bosom and holding it up
before Charles, he exclaimed: " Prince, do you know this sign?
It is the image of Christ, who died on the cross for you, and for
me, and for all of us, and who, with His last breath, implored
pardon for His murderers. If you will not hear me, you will
at least hear Him who speaks by my mouth, the King of
Kings, who gives victory to faithful princes and casts down the
wicked. Unless you renounce your cruel design of destroying
this wretched city, the tears of so many guiltless victims will
plead to heaven with a power Tar different from that of your
armies. What are numbers and strength before the Lord?
Moses and Joshua triumphed over their enemies by prayers:
32 Savonarola.
we, too, shall use the arms of prayer if you refuse to relent".
Whilst he thus spoke, he held up before the king the image of
the Crucified Redeemer. Charles was overcome, and from the
portico of the palace, Savonarola announced the tidings of
peace and mercy to the affrighted citizens.
Another triumph, not less signal, soon awaited the humble
religious of San Marco. The Medici family had ruled with an
iron sway in Florence, and the most outrageous excesses often
marked their tyrannical career. At length, in a moment of
popular frenzy, the Medici, with all their adherents, were ex-
pelled from the city, a new form of government was resolved
upon, and the Dominican prior was chosen to frame it. Retired
in his silent cell, he, in a few days, achieved his task, and pre-
sented a constitution on the plan of that which was observed in
Venice. It was read by him, in the cathedral, before the
magistrates and the people; all greeted it with acclamation,
and from that day Savonarola was honoured as being at once
priest, chief-magistrate, and lawgiver of Florence.
His religious career was not less remarkable. There was,
indeed, at this time full scope in Florence for the zeal of an
apostle. Its humanists had for a long time laboured to inaugu-
rate in that favoured city a new era of semi- paganism. Not
satisfied with rendering almost divine honour to Plato in their
schools, his words and those of the pagan poets, were cited as
having equal weight with the inspired writings and the Fathers.
The arts, too, became a prey to the same evil genius of pagan-
ism; statues and paintings no longer presented the types of
religious heroism and virtue, and awakened sentiments of Chris-
tian piety in the heart, but seemed solely destined to second the
viciousness of men, and to offer as models of life the gods and
goddesses of pagan times. With such a perversion of ideas,
kept pace the corruption of morals among the inhabitants ; vice
reigned triumphant, and only in the bye-ways and corners, or
in the silence of the cloister, could religion find a home. From
the first moment of his arrival in Florence, the prior of St.
Mark's declared an open war against this paganism. His zeal and
eloquence and skill, and still more his piety and austerity, insured
to him success, and in a short time he brought the citizens once
more to the paths of the Gospel. Contemporary historians
assure us that Florence seemed in a few years to be transformed
into a city of saints. Whole villages from the valley of the
Arno and from the declivities of the Apennines hastened to
their capital, not, as hitherto, to indulge in criminal enjoyments,
but to crowd the cathedral church and hear the words of life
from Savonarola.
For seven years he had led captive the minds of his auditory
Savonarola. 33
in the cathedral, when in the Lent of 1496, he resolved to pre-
sent a glorious religious spectacle to the faithful citizens. On
Palm Sunday all were invited to join in a procession which was
to commemorate the Redeemer's triumphant entry to Jerusalem.
Eight thousand children preceded, robed in white and holding
in their hands small crosses and palm- branches ; the religious
orders and confraternities followed, each with their respective
banners; the civic authorities and the representatives from
the surrounding towns had also a special place allotted to
them, and the procession was closed by the whole body of
citizens, marshalled in order according to their respective
classes, all being dressed in white and bearing lighted tapers.
As the procession moved through the streets of Florence, such
was the religious deportment of all who took part in the cere-
mony, so fervent the piety of the people, so impressive the
psalms and canticles chanted by myriad voices, that, as one who
was present relates, " it seemed as if the citizens were translated
to the new Jerusalem, or that the glories of paradise were
granted to this earth".
Savonarola, rejoicing in the success of this sacred ceremony,
resolved in the following year to avail himself of the children
of Florence to attain a still more signal triumph. Several bands
of the most respectable and best educated children were assigned
to the various districts of the city. They proceeded procession-
ally from door to door, and prayed each family that through
love of the Infant Saviour, all sinful and dangerous books and
every thing that savoured of by-gone paganism should be given
up to them. The people readily complied with this request,
and eight large pyramids were soon formed in the public square,
consisting of immodest paintings and statues, dangerous books,
dice, cards, and every thing that was opposed to the teachings
of religion. On the day of mid-carnival, a procession of chil-
dren was seen again to move from the cathedral. They were
followed by an immense crowd, and when, in the presence of
all, the pyramids were given to the flames, a solemn Te Deum
was entoned, which was repeatedly interrupted by the applause
and benedictions of the citizens.
Some writers, who never cease to malign the Catholic Church
and its ministers, have taken occasion from this fact to accuse
Savonarola of waging war against the arts ; and they even add
that in his iconoclast fury he destroyed the heavenly paintings
of Beato Angelico with which the convent of St. Mark's was
enriched (Ranalli, Storia delle belle arti in Italia, lib. 5, § 22,
23). But Savonarola, whilst he combated the abuse which
would introduce paganism into the arts, was the true friend and
patron of Christian art; he did not wish to destroy the chisel
VOL. v. 3
34 Savonarola.
and pencil, but he wished them to be marked with the cross of
Christ, and happily the convent of San Marco still remains
adorned with more than forty frescoes of the Beato Angelico to
refute the base calumny that would accuse the fervent religious of
seeking to destroy them.
We have hitherto regarded the prior of St. Marks achieving
great things for the glory of God, and proving himself to be a
noly religious and a devoted citizen. And yet an instant suf-
ficed to dispel, like a light cloud, all the prestige which attended
his name. Among the articles of the constitution which he
had given to the Florentines, there was one which decreed, that
every citizen condemned for a political crime should have a
right to appeal to the great council of the nation. It happened
that now, five culprits, who had been arraigned as guilty of
conspiracy against the state, and were sentenced to capital
punishment, wished to avail themselves of this privilege of
the constitution, and appealed to the great council. Savonarola
opposed the appeal, and the conspirators were executed. A
general indignation was manifested by the citizens, and the
fanatical enthusiasm of yesterday in his favour, was followed by
a still more fanatical persecution of to-day.
There were many to fan this flame of popular enmity against
the prior of San Marco. By founding a Mom pietatis, for the
assistance of the poor, in 1495, he had provoked the rage of
the Jewish task-masters and usurers of North Italy. More than
once, too, he had found excuses to refuse compliance with the
commands of the civil, as well as of the ecclesiastical autho-
rities. This disobedience, however it might be palliated, was
certainly a fault, and many took occasion from it to accuse him
of neglecting to practise what he himself had preached. He
had also presumed to censure the court of Rome, and to hold
up to the vituperation of his hearers some whom he should not
have named save with honour and reverence. These faults,
into which he was betrayed by his enthusiasm in a holy cause,
awakened the enmity of many, and in the new phase of public
opinion were magnified an hundred fold.
The populace, instigated by the secret enemies of Savonarola,
at length assailed the convent of San Marco, clamouring for the
death of him who hitherto had been their idol, and to whom
they had shown all the honours of an apostle. Rushing to the
cloister, they dragged him from his cell, and led him as a
culprit through the public streets, exposing him to every insult,
whilst the pretended patriots of the hour demanded that the
last sentence of the law should be passed without delay against
him as " a conspirator against the republic and a disturber of the
public peace". The assembly, called La Pratica, soon pro-
Savonarola. 35
nounced sentence of death against him, and on the 23rd of
May, 1498, Jerome Savonarola with two of his companiona
were led to the stake in the public square of the Palazzo Vecchio.
Thus died this remarkable man, and those who hitherto had
strewn flowers before him as he passed along, now vied with
each other in bringing fagots for his execution.
In all this chequered career of Savonarola there is but little
that savours of heresy, or justifies his being classed among the
precursors of Luther and the other false reformers of the six-
teenth century. But we may further interrogate his writings
to learn how opposed were his principles and teaching to the
heretical tenets propounded by those first fathers of the Protes-
tant Reformation. In his Triumph of the Cross, written only a
short time before his death, he assigns to the Sovereign Pontiff
supreme authority in the Church as Vicar of Christ, thus pro-
claiming that unchanging principle which alone suffices to over-
throw all heresies: " The heretics", he says, " agree with us in
admitting the Old and the New Testament, but they differ from
us in the interpretation of the sacred text. Now it is manifest
that there must be a visible head of the Church of Christ. . . .
Thus in the Gospel of St. John, the Saviour teaches there shall
be one sheep/old and one shepherd. Nor can it be reasonably
maintained that Christ Himself is the head of the Church, or that
ascending into heaven He wished to leave us without a visible
head, for endless divisions and confusion would be the conse-
quence ; and the conflicting claims regarding faith and morality
could not be decided. And hence the Redeemer said indivi-
dually to Peter: Feed my lambs: and elsewhere: 1 have prayed
for thee that thy faith may not fail, and thou being converted,
confirm thy brethren. Thus He left Peter as His vicar ; as He more
expressly teaches when He said : Thou art PeUr, and upon this
rock 1 will build my Church, etc. Nor should it be said that
this authority was given only to St. Peter and not to any one
that would come after him ; for Christ promised that His Church
should continue till the end of time and, therefore, it
follows that all who are successors of St. Peter must, like him,
be Vicars of Christ, that thus there may ever be a head in the
Church, holding the place of Christ, and enjoying the prerogar
tives of St. Peter. Since, therefore, the Bishops of Rome are
the successors of St. Peter, it manifestly follows that the Church
of Rome is the guide and teacher of all other Churches, and
that all the faithful of Christ must be united with the Roman
Pontiff as their head. Therefore, too, whosoever separates him-
self from the unity and teaching of the Roman Church, without
doubt separates himself from Christ" ( Trionfo della Croce, part
iv. cap. vi ).
3 B
36 Savonarola.
Indeed lie repeatedly lays down the same golden rule of faith:
thus, elsewhere in the same treatise he writes: "We^confess
that God has granted to His Church an unerring teaching, on
which the faithful may rest as on a solid foundation. And hence
it is that Catholic faith holds as firm truth all that has been
defined or may hereafter be defined by the Holy Roman Church ;
and in like manner whatever that Church commands us to reject
must be rejected; for the Roman See has been constituted the
rule of our salvation and the first and solid foundation of faith"
(z'6., cap. x.). In a sermon on the Sunday within the octave of
the Ascension he again says: " The Sanctuary of the Tabernacle
is the Church of God : make sure to be within that tabernacle :
be ever submissive to the correction of Rome, that thus you may
not be led away into heresy : for it is the decree of God that
no heresy shall creep into the Church of Rome".
As regards the sacraments, Savonarola lays down in the most
explicit manner the teaching of the Catholic Church ; he dwells
on the necessity of confession, on the treasure the Church enjoys
in the holy Eucharist, on devotion to the holy Mother of God,
in a word, on all those sacred truths which were so soon to be
impugned by the profane lips of Luther and his followers. In
all his writings, as well as in his sermons, St. Thomas was his
text and guide ; yet surely no friend of the Protestant Reforma-
tion would adopt as his own the teaching of this great doctor of
holy Church.
But the history of the last moments of Savonarola should of
itself alone suffice to refute the charge of heresy which is made
against him. The day before his execution, he asked that his
confessor might be brought to him, and fervently approached the
sacrament of penance. The next morning he assisted at Mass
in^the prison chapel, and the privilege was allowed him of re-
ceiving the holy communion from his own hands. When his
scapular was removed he exclaimed: " O holy habit! how
rdent was my desire to possess thee ! through the mercy of God
thou wert granted to me, and I have ever preserved thee imma-
culate to this hour, and now it is not through any will of mine
that I am deprived of thee". As he mounted the scaffold the
papal commissary approached, announcing to him that the Holy
Father granted to him and his companions a plenary indulgence
for the moment of death, and asking, " Do you accept it?" all
three replied " Yes", and humbly bowed to receive it. What
a contrast with the closing scene of Luther's life is here pre-
sented to us !
It is true that Savonarola did not show that due submissive-
Less to authority which we should expect in a religious who had
boured so much in the service of religion. Butthis is quite a
Savonarola. 37
different thing from heresy ; into such a fault the best of men
may be betrayed, but, as his contemporaries declared, he, like
St. Cyprian, expiated all his faults by his repentance and his
martyrdom.
He was, indeed, a Reformer in the true sense of the word, and
not in the profane and irreligious sense with which heretics
have ever sought to mask the venom of their teaching and the
corruption of their hearts. He was a Reformer, as Saint Gregory
the Seventh and Innocent the Third were Reformers ; he sought
to reform the morals and maxims of his contemporaries, as St.
Bernard and St. Peter Damian sought to correct the abuses of
their own times. The Church of Christ is indeed the work of
God and not of man; it is quickened by a divine life, and,
despite the persecutions of the world and the corruption of our
own sinful nature, shall last till the end of time ; and whosoever
by the name of Reformation would deny the ever-abiding pre-
sence of God in holy Church, or imply that its divine life had
ceased and that the gates of hell had prevailed against it, he is,
indeed, a heretic and becomes excluded from the inheritance of
Christ. But individual men are sinful, and whole cities and
nations may relapse into error, or may at least become neglectful
and tepid in the service of God. Hence the need of reformation
in individuals and in states ; that true reformation which was
inaugurated by the Divine Redeemer in Jerusalem, and which
He commissioned His holy Church to perpetuate till time shall
be no more. This was the reformation which the saints of God
ever loved to preach, which St. Antoninus, St. Catherine of
Sienna, St. Charles Borromeo, so earnestly urged upon the pastors
of the Church, and which the great Council of Trent so effica-
ciously realized soon after the time of which we speak. It is in
this sense that Savonarola may justly be styled a Reformer, but
as such he was the precursor, not of Luther and his wicked asso-
ciates, but of St. Charles Borromeo, St. Philip Neri, and the
other many true reformers who adorned our holy Church in the
sixteenth century.
38
THE ABBEY OF ROSS-ERRILYV
The ruins of the Franciscan convent at* Ross, near Headford,
in the county Galway, are popularly styled the Abbey of Ross.
In the early records this convent receives the name Ross-Errily
or Ross-Traily, which is a corruption of the Irish name Ross-
ne'threallagh. It was delightfully situated on the south bank
of the Black river, in the parish of Kilursa;2 and its rums
still attest its former magnificence. The Four Masters and
Luke Wadding register its foundation in the year 1351; and
the latter adds that it was a most retired and lonely spot, sur-
rounded on all sides with water, and approachable only by a
narrow path which was formed of large blocks of stone.
Before the close of the fifteenth century it attained special
eminence among the many Franciscan institutions of the king-
dom ; and its property comprised the townlands of Ross, Cordara,
and Ross-duff, amounting to about thirteen hundred statute
acres. It was from the hallowed precincts of this monastery
that a colony went forth to found the convent of Donegal, so
famous in our annals. A provincial chapter of the Franciscan
order had assembled in Ross-Errily to deliberate on matters of
private interest, when Nuala O'Connor, daughter of O'Connor
Faily, and wife of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, hereditary chieftain
of Tirconnell, came, accompanied by a goodly array of gallow-
glasses, to present an humble memorial. This petition of the
Lady Nuala set forth the anxious desire of the faithful of
Tirconnell to have amongst them some religious of the order of
St. Francis to be their guides in their heavenward journey by
precept and example. The favour was soon granted, and
before the close of 1474 the foundations were laid of the far-
famed monastery whose ruins are still met with at the head of
the lovely bay of Donegal.
In 1538 the convent of Ross-Errily shared in the storm of
persecution with which the reckless monarch Henry the Eighth
assailed the church of our fathers. Indeed the Franciscans
were in a special manner exposed to the rage of the English
monarch. They had energetically opposed his wished-for
divorce, and now they should pay the penalty of their zeal.
Two hundred Franciscans were thrown into prison ; thirty-two
1 The Abbey of Ross: its History and Details. By Oliver J. Burke, A.B.
Dublin, 1868.
1 Killursa, formerly called Kill-Fursa, was dedicated to St. Fursey, an Irish
stint of the seventh century, whose feast is kept on the IGth of January. The
ruins of St. Fursey's church still exist, and, not far distant, there is a cromleach,
popularly called Leabha-Diarmid agus Graunye, which is said to be the resting
place of Derniod and Grace during their flight from Tara.
The Alley of Ross-Errily. 39
of them were bound with chains, and exposed to every insult ;
others were banished, and some, too, were put to death.
New trials awaited the convent of Ross-Errily in the reign of
Elizabeth. In an inquiry which was made in the commence-
ment of her reign, it was found that " the site of the monastery
of Ross-Errilly or Ross-Railly was one acre of land ; that it con-
tained a church, a cloister, a hall, dormitories, chambers, and
cellars ; a cemetery, three small gardens, and a mill, which for
want of water, could work only in winter". By royal patent the
tithes attached to the church were granted to the portreve and
burgesses of Athenry; whilst the monastery, with its property,
was allotted to Richard Burgh, Earl of Clanrickarde. This
nobleman, however, whose family had long been the patrons of
the Franciscan convent, privately restored it to its owners. The
crown, finding the friars in 1584 again in possession of the
monastery, made a grant of it to an English courtier, who plun-
dered it of its library, monuments, and books, and expelled the
religious. He was soon, however, anxious to part with his ill-
acquired property, and two years later we find it once more
purchased by Clanrickarde and restored to the children of St.
Francis. The close of the century saw Ross-Errily transformed
into an English garrison which was destined to curb the Western
chieftains, and prevent them from joining the ranks of O'Neill
and O'Donnell in the north.
When the ravages of war had ceased, we again meet with the
religious of Ross-Errily busily engaged in restoring their mon-
astery to its former magnificence. It was at this time visited by
Father Mooney, provincial of the order, who thus speaks of it
in his MS. history of the Franciscan convents in Ireland : —
" Another house where I spent some days during my visit to
Connaught, pleased me much. I now speak of the beautiful and
spacious church and monastery of Ross-Errilly, or as it is called by
the Irish, Ross Trial, which is situated in the diocese of Tuam, and
within eight or nine miles of that ancient city. , . . Never was
there a more solitary spot chosen for a religious community, than that
on which Ross Errilly stands, for it is surrounded by marches and
bogs, and the stillness that reigns there is seldom broken save by the
tolling of the church bell, or the whirr of the countless flocks of plover
and other wild birds that abound in that desolate region. Another
remarkable feature of the locality is that the monastery can only be
approached by a causeway, paved with large stones, and terminating
at the enclosure which was built in 1572 by Father Ferrall Mac Egan,
a native of Connaught, and then Provincial of the Irish Franciscans.
He was in sooth a distinguished man in his day, far famed for eloquenee
and learning, and singularly fond of Ross-Errilly, which he used to
compare to the Thebaid, whither the early Christians fled for prayer
and contemplation. . . .
40 The Abbey of Ross-Errily.
« As for the church of Ross-Errilly, it is indeed a beautiful edifice,
and the same may be said of the monastery, which, although often
earrisoned by English troops during the late war, is still in perfect
preservation. Cloister, refectory, dormitory, chapter-house, library,
and lofty bell-tower have all survived the disasters of that calamitous
period ; but in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Elizabeth, A.D.
1584 the friars were forcibly expelled from their beloved retreat,
and monastery and church were by a royal ordinance granted to an
Englishman, who laid sacrilegious hands on our vestments, altar plate,
books, and muniments, leaving us nothing but bare walls and the
rifled tombs of our benefactors.
44 It was not long, however, till the friars returned to Ross-
Errilly ; . . . and thenceforth the community of Ross-Errilly
consisted of six priests and two lay brothers, who laboured indefati-
gably for the repairs of the sacred edifice. ... In 1604, the
munificence of Richard, fourth Earl of Clanricarde, enabled the
community to repair the monastery and church, which had been
considerably dilapidated during the late war, and in that same
year was buried within its precincts one of the noblest and bravest
of heroes of whom his country could boast, namely Bryan Oge
O'Rourke, son of Bryan-na-Murtha. . . .
" When some ships of the ill-fated Armada went to pieces on the
coast of Sligo, Bryan-na-Murtha O'Rourke, pitying the Spaniards who
appealed to him for protection, not only sent them immediate aid, but
invited them and their chief officer, Antonio de Leva, to his castle
of Dromahair, where they were entertained with unbounded hospi-
tality. O'Rourke's conduct, however, provoked the vengeance of the
Queen, who ordered her Deputy Fitz William and Sir Richard Bing-
ham to waste with fire and sword the principality of Breffhy. As
for the chieftain himself, he was obliged, after some ineffectual re-
sistance, to fly into Scotland, where he was arrested by order of
James VI., now King of England, who perfidiously sent him in chains
to London. Arraigned on a charge of high treason, the noble-minded
chieftain refused to bend his knee before the insignia of royalty. * * *
Sentence of death being recorded, he was soon after led to the place
of execution, and died a true son of Holy Church. When the news
of his father's death reached Ireland, Bryan Oge O'Rourke was duly
inaugurated in his stead. This worthy son of a martyred sire dis-
tinguished himself in many a glorious action during the Elizabethan
wars, and particularly in the far-famed fight near Boyle, where he
and O'Donel routed the English under Clifford in 1599 on the memo-
rable feast of the Assumption. . . . His last wish was that his
remains should repose in the cloister of Ross-Errilly, and our friars
took care to see that wish was fulfilled ; for in the month of January,
when the snow lay thick on the roads, the funeral cortege, accom-
panied by a few faithful friends, entered the enclosure of the monas-
tery, and as soon as the requiem mass had been sung, our brotherhood
hollowed out a grave in the cloister, and there interred all that re-
. mained of one of the bravest and best of those Irishmen whose names
deserve to be canonized in the pages of history".
The Abbey of Ross-Errily. 41
In the year 1612 another storm swept over the monastery of
Ross-Errily. William Daniel, well known for his labours in
translating the Bible into the Irish language, was at this time
Protestant Archbishop of Tuam. He received an order from
Sir Arthur Chichester, then lord deputy, to expel the religious
from this convent, and to demolish its altars ; he was afraid,
indeed, not to comply with these commands ; yet he privately
sent word to the friars, that they might consult for their own
safety, and bear away with them whatever was most precious in
their monastery. It was not till 1626 that the Franciscans were
able to return to their long cherished retreat in Muinter-Moro-
ghow;1 then, however, they were allowed for twenty-five years
to enjoy a comparative repose, and to diffuse around them the
blessings of charity and religion. In February, 1648, its guar-
dian, Father Bryan Kilkenny displayed the charity of the true
religious, sheltering within its walls those who had vowed the
destruction of our Catholic people. We will narrate the event
as presented from the original authorities by Mr. Burke : —
" It was early in the month of February, 1642, that Dr. Maxwell,
the Protestant Bishop of Killala, afterwards Archbishop of Tuam,
with several Protestant settlers, fearing the just vengeance of the
people whom they had plundered, applied to Lord Mayo for a military
escort to convoy them to Gal way. His lordship acceded to the
bishop's request, and the whole party got under weigh, accompanied
by Lord Mayo. It was arranged that Captain Ulick Burke, of Castle-
Hacket (who was married to Lord Mayo's sister), the then high
sheriff of the county of Galway, should take the convoy in charge at
the bridge of Shruel, the mearing of the counties. The journey as far
as Shruel was all but accomplished. Lord Mayo, satisfying himself
that all was right, on getting within half a mile of the town, wished
them safe, having given them in charge to a relative of his own, a
gentleman named Edmund Bourke, who lived in the castle of Shruel ;
and then, turning his horse, his lordship rode away to Cong. This
Edmund Bourke, . . . having taken the command, hurried on
to the bridge, before Captain Ulick Burke, the Galway high sheriff,
might come up. The party had just arrived at the bridge, when Ed-
mund Bourke incited the surrounding people to attack those whom
he was bound to protect : a shot was fired, and the massacre com-
menced. In less than an hour thirty bodies were laid dead on the
ground ; many of them were tumbled into a hole on the road side,
and others flung into the waters of the Black river, that flowed red
with blood into the lake on that fatal day. Meanwhile Father Bryan
Kilkenny, Guardian of the Monastery of Ross, accompanied by Cap-
tain Ulick Burke, came up, rushed to the scene of carnage, and carried
1 In an inguisitio made in 1636, the monastery of Ross-Ryally is said to be
in Mointer-Moroghow, now barony of Clare. Annals of Four Masters, pag.
234:9.
42 TJie Abbey of Ross-Errily.
away over forty persons, some of them badly wounded. The guardian
brought them to his abbey, and amongst them were the Bishop of
Killala, his wife, children, and servants ; and there were they enter-
tained and cared for to the best of the friar's ability for several nights,
until Captain Ulick Burke sent his carriages, and brought them to
his castle at Castle-Hacket".
In the month of August, 1647, a provincial chapter of the
Franciscan order was summoned to meet in Ross-Errily. The
nunzio, Rinuccini, intimated his intention of being present
there ; and the Archbishop of Dublin, who was a member of
the order, and other dignitaries of the kingdom, received invi-
tations to take part in the proceedings. The menacing attitude,
however, of the Puritan army, compelled the inmates to dis-
pense with the intended solemnities. One night when the
religious had retired to repose, the alarm was given that a Scot-
tish troop was in the neighbourhood. All rushed from their
beds, and indeed with scanty clothing, to save themselves by
flight. The provincial, Rev. Anthony de Burgo, a holy man,
remarkable for his piety and zeal, resolved first of all to prepare
himself for death, that thus his flight might be less distressing
to him. He accordingly took hold of one of the fathers, and
insisted on making confession to him. It was in vain that the
good father pleaded that there was no time to lose, and that the
enemy was at the doors : it was equally vain for him to struggle
to be freed from the provincial's iron grasp ; so resigning him-
self to his fate, he said aloud to the passers-by : " The father
provincial is worse than the Scots, for even they in their wick-
edness allow us time for flight, but he, by his piety, is resolved
to render escape impossible". The alarm, however, proved to
be groundless, and the religious were able to resume their deli-
berations in the month of September. The Rev. Thomas Mac
Kiernan was chosen provincial, and at the close of the chapter,
the religious adjourned to Gal way to celebrate there the public
ceremonies, and to hold their theses in presence of the nunzio,
all of which, as had been at first arranged, should have added
solemnity to their sessions in Ross-Errily. In the Rinuccini
papers I find it recorded that the nunzio assisted with pleasure
at the public theses, and that the proceedings in Galway were
conducted with all possible solemnity and decorum: " magno
applausu et cleri populique concursu".
During the sad era of the Cromwellian rule, Ross-Errily
for awhile escaped the fire and sword of the parliamentary forces,
and afforded a momentary shelter to the fugitives from the other
suppressed monasteries of the kingdom. The 10th of August,
1656, at length marked their doom. The Puritan soldiers, out-
raged at finding its cells empty — for the Franciscans, one hun-
The A bbey of Ross-Errily. 43
dred and forty in number, had, a few hours before, sought safety
in flight-- overturned the altars, and broke to pieces the cross
and the images of the saints. Suspecting that vast treasures
might perhaps be concealed in the tombs, every grave was dug
up, and the hallowed bones of the departed faithful were thrown
together in one confused mass by these sacrilegious plunderers.1
The reign of James the Second brought for a few years peace
and sunshine to Ross-Errily ; but the penal laws of William
the Third and Anne again reduced it to a wilderness. About
the year 1712 the religious seem to have once more taken up
their abode there, as appears from an address of the grand jury
of the county of Galway at an assizes commenced on the 29th
of March, 1715. This document is published by Hardiman in
his History of Galway (pag. 255, note): the jurors call on the
lords justices to put in force the laws against the Roman Ca-
tholics ; and complain that numbers of Popish priests and friars
had come into the kingdom within the last four years, and
settled themselves, amongst other places, at Ross, near Head-
ford.
In 1753 is recorded the last flight of the religious from the
walls of Ross-Errily. The property had passed from the
Clanricardes to Lord St. George, who continued to protect
the inmates of the monastery, although the statutes of the land
enacted imprisonment for life as the penalty for contributing to
the support of a Catholic priest.2 In the year we have men-
tioned, Lord St. George successfully terminated a suit in which
he was involved with a family of lar Connaught. The defeated
parties vowed vengeance against their antagonist, and swore
informations to the effect that Lord St. George had under his
protection some members of a religious community, the tower
of whose monastery could be seen from the windows of his
lordship's castle at Headford. The government of the day
resolved at once to inquire into the accuracy of these informa-
tions, though prima facie it seemed absurd that a Protestant
nobleman would show such courtesy to the proscribed friars of
the Catholic Church. Fortunately Lord St. George received
some friendly hint of the approaching storm. He and the religi-
ous were now alike imperilled. These however quitted the mon-
astery without delay, and so arranged the place that no traces
remained of its former inmates. Looms were got in ; weavers
were set to work ; and the whole place assumed the appearance
of some large factory ; the walls, moreover, and the ceiling,
1 It is said that the great bell of the convent was taken down by the religious
before their flight, and cast into the river, where, tradition tells us, it still
remains.
2 Blackstone's Commentary, vol. iv , pp. 115, 118.
44 TJie Abbey of Ross-Errily.
hitherto adorned with frescoes, were now whitewashed; and
when the government commissioners arrived, they were able to
report that there was not a solitary friar on the premises, and
that Ross-Errily was not a monastery, but a manufactory. The
Franciscans, at their departure, took with them the church plate,
ornaments, and vestments, and retired to a small island formed
by the Black river, where they built a small convent, the foun-
dations of which still remain, and whence they could see the
lofty tower of the old monastery which had once been their
home. That island to this day is called Hyauwn-na-braugher,
i.e., " the Friar's Island".
Thenceforward Ross-Errily was nothing more than a crumb-
ling ruin ; but its tower, its ivied gables, its columned aisles, its
ornamental windows, still proclaim the former grandeur of this
home of piety and science.
Before quitting this hallowed spot we must mention a chari-
table custom which was observed there till the monastery and
its lands became a prey to irreligious plunderers. Annually on
St. Clare's day in August, a purse of money, called St. Clare's
purse, amounting to about £40 sterling, was placed on the
saint's altar, and with it an urn containing the names of the
orphan girls of the adj oining district. After some solemn prayers
the superior drew forth one name from the urn : the purse was
then set aside for this orphan, and handed to her as her por-
tion on her marriage day. " Those times are passed (we shall
conclude in the words of Mr. Burke) : the relief at the convent
gate has ceased; the purse of St. Clare is forgotten; the one-
third of the tithes is no longer distributed amongst the poor —
now thrown as a burden upon the land. Another system has
grown up, and the relieving officer has taken the place of the
almoner —
" < Alas ! for earth ; for never shall we see
The brightness in her eye she bore when Rome was free' ".
LITURGICAL QUESTIONS.
We have been favoured with the following questions:
1st, What is meant by the Rubric of the Missal (part i. titul. xx.)
"a& eadem parte epistolae paretur cereust ad elevationem
sacramenti accendendus" ?
2nd, Is this rubric merely permissive, or is it to be understood as
imposing a precept, and necessarily to be followed?
3rd, Does it refer to the time of Mass only, or does it hold also
tor the administration of the Holy Communion extra Missam ?
Liturgical Questions.
1. The rubric referred to, expressly teaches that in" addition
to the candles on the altar during the time of the Holy Sacri-
fice, another candle should be placed at the epistle side of the
altar, and should be lighted before the elevation, to be extin-
guished only after the Communion. It is elsewhere more fully
explained (Rubr. part ii. titul. viii. § 6) by the words, " Dum
celebrans elevat Hostiam, accenso prim intorticio, quod'non ex-
tinguitur nisi postquam sacerdos sanguinem sumpserit, vel alios
communicaverit, si qui erunt communicandi in Missa, ^minister,
etc.". This custom was at one time general in the Church, and it
had for its object to remind the faithful of the presence of the
Redeemer upon the altar. All the leading rubricists refer to
this usage, and present many details connected with it. Ga-
vantus says :
" The candle is to be placed at the epistle side of the altar, because
it is there that the assistant is kneeling at the time of the elevation.
However, on special festivals two candles may be thus lighted before
the elevation".
Bauldry also teaches :
" Let a candle be placed on a candelabrum at the epistle side to
be lighted at the elevation. On the more solemn festivals two may
be used, the candelabra being placed one at each side of the altar in
piano".
Bisso is equally explicit:
" At the epistle side let a candle be prepared which is lighted at
the elevation through reverence for the Holy Sacrament: on the
solemn feast a second candle should be placed at the gospel side".
This candle should not be placed on the altar or on the
credence-table, but should either be attached to a cornucopia,
i.e. a candle- branch, or rest in piano at the epistle side. On the
solemn festivals two candles or torches should be thus placed in
piano, one at each side of the altar. Castaldi explains this
matter very well :
" Ante infimum gradum altaris in angulis hinc inde apponantur,
eaque eminentia, candelabra majoris vel minoris altitudinis aequalis,
pulchra, elaborata ex ligno inaurato, vel ex aurichalco, aut etiam, ubi
haberi possint, in praecipuis solemnitatibus argentea : in quibus in-
torticia pro elevatione Sanctissimi Sacramenti affigantur, sed etiam,
maxime in sacellis, duo instruments quae communiter cornucopia
dicuntur, hinc inde parietibus affigi poterunt" (lib. 2, sect. la § 10).
2. This rubric at the present day may be considered as not
preceptive, but merely directive and permissive. St. Liguori
following the authority of Lacroix and Sporer, says it presents
only a counsel and not a precept. Bouvry also writes : " Nullam
46 Liturgical Questions
esse obligationem accendendi tertiam candelampost Sanctus; sic
enim hodie communis usus habet" : and this is now the common
opinion of theologians. In many countries as in Ireland, the
use of the elevation candle is no longer observed. In Rome it
is retained only in the church of the Missioners of St. Vincent
de Paul, where, we may add, the candle or torch is inserted in a
cornucopia at the epistle side of the altar.
3. The candle should remain lighting from the elevation
till after the communion. When the holy communion is given
to the faithful after Mass, the candle should not be extinguished
till all have been communicated. A decree of the Congregation
of the Visita Apostolica, clearly lays down this rule :
" When communion is to be given at the end of Mass, let the
assistant take care that the elevation-candle be not extinguished till
the communion is terminated" (Merati, torn. i. part 2, tituL x. § 29).
A distinction, however, must here be made, as the learned
Cavalieri teaches us :
" If the holy Communion", he says, " at the end of Mass is given
with the particles consecrated at that Mass, then the elevation-candle
should remain unextinguished : but if it be given with the precon-
secrated particles preserved in the tabernacle, then the elevation-
candle may be extinguished after the Communion of the priest, to be
re-lighted, however, during the Communion of the faithful after Mass".
The same holds good for the holy Communion when given
before Mass : the elevation- candle should be lighted and con-
tinue so whilst the holy Eucharist is being distributed to the
faithful. Cavalieri thus lays down the rule :
" Quod additur de accendendo elevationis cereo, ad honorem Sa-
cramenti fit ... et licet reapse loquatur de communione intra missam,
praesens tamen sanctio dispositionem rite extendit etiam ad com-
munionem quae immediate fit ante missam, tamquam actum, qui si
non continuus, contiguus tamen est eidem Missae".
The reason for this rule is the same as that on which the gene-
ral rubric is grounded, viz., to show reverence to the Blessed
Sacrament, and to remind the faithful that our Redeemer, the
true light of the world, is then present on the altar. This holds
equally good whether the Communion is given before or after
Mass. Nay more, the chief rubricists extend the rule to the
Holy Communion e\ren when given extra missam, and teach that
in addition to the two candles which should then be lighted on
the altar, a third candle or torch should also be placed at the
epistle side of the altar. Not to mention Cavalieri, Quarti, and
others, Catalani thus writes :
" It is a commendable and universal usage in the Church that when
the Holy Communion is given, either during Mass, or at any other
Document. 47
time, in addition to the two candles on the altar, a third also should
be lighted near the altar" (Hit. de Euch. chap. ii. § 1).
And Merati adds :
" Praeterire non debemus, quomodo se gerere debeat sacerdos in
distribuenda communione extra missam . . . sacrista debet accendere
duas candelas super altare et intorticium a cornu epistolae, et etiam
aliud a cornu evangelii si fuerit dies festivus" (torn, i. part 2. titul x.
§34).
DOCUMENT.
Apostolical Letter of our Most Holy Father Pius the Ninth, to
the Schismatical Bishops of the Eastern Churches.
PIUS PP. IX.
Arcano Divinae Providentiae consilio, licet sine ullis meritis
Nostris, in hac sublimi Cathedra haeredes Beatissimi Apostolorum
Principis constituti, qui juxta proerogativam sibi a Deo concessam
firma et solidissima petra est, super quam Salvator Ecclesiam
aedificavit impositi Nobis oneris sollicitudine urgente, ad eos
omnes in qualibet terrarum Orbis regione degentes, qui christiano
nomine censentur, curas Nostras extendere, omnesque ad paternae
caritatis amplexus excitare vehementissime cupimus et conamur.
Nee vero absque gravi animae Nostrae periculo partem ullam
christiani populi negligere possumus, qui pretiosissimo Salvatoris
Nostri sanguine redemptus, et sacris baptismi aquis in Domi-
nicum gregem adlectus, omnem sibi vigilantiam Nostram
jure deposcit. Itaque cum in omnium procurandam salutem,
qui Christum Jesum agnoscunt et adorant, studia omnia, eogi-
tationesque Nostras indesinenter conferre debeamus oculos Nostros
ac paternum animum ad istas convertimus Ecclesias, quae olim
unitatis vinculo cum hac Apostolica Sede conglutinatae tanta
sanctitatis, coelestisque doctrinae laude florebant, uberesque di-
vinae gloriae et animarum salutis fructus edebant, nunc vero per
nefarias illius artes ac machinationes, qui primum schisma exci-
tavit in coelo, a communione Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae, quae
toto orbe diffusa est, sejunctae ac divisae cum summo nostro
moerore existunt.
Hac sane de causa jam ab ipso Supremi Nostri Pontificatus
exordio Vobis pacis caritatisque verba toto cordis affectu loquuti
sumus. Etsi vero haec Nostra verba optatissimum minime
obtinuerint exitum, tamen nunquam Nos deseruit spes fore
ut humiles aeque ac ferventes Nostras preces propitius ex-
audire dignetur clementissimus ac benignissiraus salutis pacisque
4g - Document.
Auctor aui operates est in medio terrae salutem, quique oriens ex
alto pdcem sibi acceptam et ab omnibus acceptandam evidenter
ostendens, earn in ortu suoAngelorum ministerio bonae voluntatis
hominibus nunciavit, et inter homines conversatus verbo docuit,
^ Jam vero^cuTnuper de Venerabilium Fratmm Nostrorum S.
R. E. Cardinalium consilio Oecumenicam Synodum future anno
Romae celebrandam, ac die octavo mensis Decembris Immacu-
latae Deiparae Virginis Mariae Conception! sacro incipiendam
indixerimus et convocaverimus, vocem Nostrarn ad Vos rursus
dirigimus, et majore, qua possumus, animi Nostri contentione
Vos obsecramus, monemus et obtestamur, ut ad eamdem gene-
ralem Synodum convenire velitis, quemadmodum Majores Vestri
convenerunt ad Concilium Lugdunense II. a recol, mem. B.
Gregorio X. Praedecessore Nostro habitum, et ad Florentinum
Concilium a fel. record. Eugenio IV. item Decessore Nostro ce-
lebratum, ut dilectionis antiquae legibus renovatis, et Patrum
pace, coelesti illo ac salutari Christi dono quod temppre exaruit,
ad vigorem iterum revocata post longam moeroris nebulam
et dissidii diuturni atram ingratamque caliginem serenum omnibus
unionis optatae jubar illucescat.
Atque hie sit jucundissimus benedictionis fructus, quo Cnristus
Jesus nostrum omnium Dominus et Redemptor immaculatam ac
dilectissimam Sponsam suam catholicam Ecclesiam consoletur,
ejusque temperet et abstergat lacrymas in hac asperitate tempo-
rum, ut, omni divisione penitus sublata, voces antea discrepantes
perfecta spiritus unanimitate collaudent Deum, qui non vult
schismata esse in nobis, sed ut idem omnes dicamus et sen-
tiamus Apostoli voce praecepit ; immortalesque misericordiarum
Patri semper agantur gratiae ab omnibus Sanctis suis, ac prae-
sertim a gloriosissimis illis Ecclesiarum Orientalium antiquis Pa-
tribus et Doctoribus, cum de coelo prospiciant instauratam ac
redintegratam, cum hac Apostolica Sede catholicae veritatis et
unitatis centre conjunctionem, quam ipsi interris viventes omni-
bus studiis atque indefessis laboribus f bvere et magis in dies pro-
movere turn doctrina turn exemplo curarunt, ditfusa in eorum
cordibus per Spiritum Sanctum caritate, Illius, qui medium
maceiiae parietem solvit, ac per Sanguinem suum omnia con-
ciliavit et pacavit, qui signum discipulorum suorum in unitate
esse voluit, et cujue Oratio ad Patrem porrecta est: " Rogo ut
omnes unum sint, sicut et Nos unum sumus1'.
Datum Romae apud S. Petrum, die 8. Septembris Anno 1868.
Pontificatus Nostri Anno Vicesimotertio.
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
NOVEMBER, 1868.
GEOLOGY AND REVELATION.
NO. VIII.
/FHF. reader has now before him a general outline of geological
theory, together with some familiar illustrations of the evidence
by which it is supported. We shall not attempt to enforce this
evidence by any remarks of our own. Indeed it is of a kind
that can derive but little aid from the arts of logic and rhetoric.
It needs but to be fairly understood, and if it does not altogether
compel our assent, it begets at least a presumption so strong as
to leave little room for doubt or hesitation.
Nobody, as far as we know, has ever hesitated to believe that
the Round Towers of Ireland are the work of human hands.
And yet if some incredulous sceptic were to raise a cry against
this common opinion, were to say that it is a mere hypothesis,
and call for proof, we should be embarrassed how to answer him.
We could only say that these monuments have all the charac-
teristic marks of man's handiwork ; and that buildings of this
kind have never been known to come into existence except
through the agency of man. But should our vexatious sceptic
contend that these Round Towers were possibly produced by a
freak of Nature ; or that they were built by the Creator of the
World, who certainly might have made them had He been so
minded, we should think him very unreasonable, and probably
not feel much disposed to prolong the discussion. In like man-
ner the theory of Geology for which we are contending, cannofc
be established by a rigid demonstration : but we believe there is
VOL. V. " 4
50 Geology and Revelation.
not one man of sense and judgment, who, being full master of
the evidence on which it rests, has hesitated to accept that
theory, at least in its more general outlines. No doubt many
able and eminent men are to be found arrayed against Geology :
but it would be easy to show from their own writings that they
have never thoroughly examined the facts about which they
talk so flippantly, and which they often set aside so lightly.
For ourselves, therefore, we frankly avow that while we
attach but little importance to the mere conjectures and specula-
tions of geological writers, while we look with doubt and suspi-
cion on many plausible theories commonly enough adopted at
the present day, and while we consider that the discoveries of
modern times, wonderful though they are, have given rise to far
more problems than they are yet able to solve, yet we do fully
assent to those general principles which we have been attempting
to develop and to illustrate in these papers. Absolute metaphy-
sical certainty we have not; but we have a firm and rational
conviction. We feel quite satisfied that the great Creator of the
Universe did not bring suddenly into existence the withered
remains and broken fragments of animals which had never
lived ; that He did not stamp upon the massive rocks, buried in
the profound recesses of the earth, the impress of a luxuriant
vegetation which had never flourished; that He did not, in
short, create under millions of forms the delusive appearances of
things which had never been, and scatter them through this
world of ours in wild profusion, well knowing that after many
centuries they would come to light, to bewilder human reason,
and to lead it into error. This conclusion, of course, we are
prepared to abandon if it should be found to clash with any cer-
tain truth or with any demonstrated fact. But, in the mean-
time, it seems to us as well grounded and as fairly established
as the conclusions we are accustomed to follow in the matter of
other ^sciences, and in the common business of life.
It is argued, however, that Geological theory is, in fact, at
variance with the very highest order of truth ; with that truth
which comes to us on the authority of God Himself. The Bible
tells us that the world first came into existence about six or
eight thousand years ago : Geology, on the contrary, tells us that
six or eight thousand years are but as yesterday in the history
of the revolutions through which this Globe has passed. This
is the argument to which we are now about to address ourselves ;
and it well deserves our best attention, not only from its intrinsic
importance, but also from the interesting nature of the discus-
sion to which it has given rise.
In^the first place, we fully admit that the extreme antiquity of
the Earth is a necessary consequence of our theory Setting out
Antiquity of tlie Earth. 51
from the present stage of the world's existence, Geology carries
us back from epoch to epoch, through a long succession of ages,
each extending over many thousand years, until the mind is lost
in the seeming infinity of the past. It may be asked, perhaps,
in what way Geology can testify to the great length of each suc-
cessive period in the history of the Globe. A familiar example
will furnish the most convenient reply to such a question. Let
the reader call to mind what we have already explained about
the origin and formation of coal ; and then let him examine the
structure of the Carboniferous Rocks. In the great coal-field of
Wales, for instance, he will find, in a depth of 12,000 feet, as
many as sixty distinct beds of coal, spread out one above an-
other, with intervening strata of clay several feet in thickness.
Now each of these sixty beds of coal represents a great forest
which must have grown up, and flourished and decayed; and
then, in some way or another, have been covered over with a
thick deposit of clay, from which a new forest was to shoot
forth in course of time, and afterwards in its turn to wither
away: and so the process must have gone on, doubtless
with many and long interruptions, for sixty times in suc-
cession.
Then we must remember that the coal-bearing strata represent
but one of many periods, and that not the longest, in the records
of Geology. Before the age of the Coal, England was for centu-
ries at the bottom of the sea, while the Old Red Sandstone was
slowly spread out over its existing surface. And after the age of the
Coal, England was again submerged, and the gigantic Ichthyosaurs
with their companions of the deep, sported in the waters that
rolled over her plains and covered the tops of her mountains ;
and, when they had run their course, left their remains buried
in the clays of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire and Dorsetshire.
It needs not to enlarge upon this topic. We may reject Geology
if we will : but if we put any faith even in the main principles
of this science, we must totally abandon the notion that the past
history of the Earth can be compressed into the short space of
six thousand years.
Turning now to the other side of the question, we maintain
that this extreme Antiquity of the Earth, which we have learned
from Geology, is perfectly consistent with the historical narra-
tive of the Bible. The Bible, indeed, does fix the Chronology
of the Human Race at a comparatively recent period ; but, as for
the Chronology of the World itself, the Bible simply tells us that
" In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth".
For all that appears to the contrary, this Globe of ours may have
been in existence for millions of years before man was introduced
upon the scene ; and during that time may have been peopled
4 B
52 Geology and Revelation.
with those countless tribes of plants and animals^ which play so
important a part in the records of Geology. This view, which
is not only fully tolerated by the Church, but now largely sup-
ported by her Divines and Commentators, we hope to bring
home clearly to our readers in the following pages ; and thus to
satisfy them that, as regards the Antiquity of the Earth, the
discoveries of Geology can offer no prejudice to our religious
belief.
At the outset it is of some importance clearly to understand
what is meant by the Chronology of the Bible. No where in
the Sacred Text is the age of the human race explicitly set
forth. But various data are found scattered here and there
through the historical narrative, which afford us sufficient ma-
terials to construct a system of Chronology, beginning with the
creation of Adam and coming down to the birth of Christ. Un-
fortunately, however, these data are in some respects obscure,
and in some respects uncertain. And thus it has come to pass
that many different systems of Chronology have come into vogue,
even amongst those who profess to be guided entirely by the
authority of the Bible.
The whole period may be conveniently divided into two
parts;— from the creation of Adam to the fall of Abraham, and
from the fall of Abraham to the birth of Christ. As regards the
latter interval the difference of opinion between Chronologists
is not very substantial ; the length of the period may be roughly
set down at about 2000 years. But in the computation of the
former interval a very wide difference prevails, arising from a
diversity of reading in the earliest versions of the Pentateuch.
The materials for the computation are derived from two genea-
logical lists, one extending from Adam to Noah,1 the other from
Noah to Abraham.2 In these lists we have not only the direct
line of descent from father to son, extending through the whole
period in question, but, moreover, we have the age of each indi-
vidual member of the genealogy at the time when the next in
succession was born. As for example : — "Adam lived ^hundred
and thirty years, and begot a son to his own image and likeness,
and called his name Seth. And the days of Adam, after he
begot Seth, were eight hundred years: and he begot sons and
daughters. And all the time that Adam lived came to nine
hundred and thirty years, and he died. Seth also lived a hun-
dred and Jive years, and begot Enos. And Seth lived, after he
begot Enos, eight hundred and seven years, and begot sons and
laughters. And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and
1 Genesis, v. 8-32.
1 Ib., xi. 10-26.
Antiquity of the Earth.
53
twelve years, and he died. And Enos lived ninety years, and
begot Cainan":1 and so on. Now it is plain, according to this
statement, that from the creation of Adam to the birth of Seth
was a hundred and thirty years ; to the birth of Enos a hundred
and thirty, more a hundred and five years ; to the birth of Cai-
nan, a hundred and thirty, more a hundred and five, more ninety
years. And in this way, following the genealogies of the Book
of Genesis, we may easily compute the time from the creation of
Adam to the birth of Abraham. Adding seventy-five years to
this period, we reach the epoch known as the Call of Abraham;
for we are told that "Abraham was seventy and five years old
when he went forth from Haran".2
Every one knows, however, that, when a long catalogue of
names and numbers is copied and re-copied from age to age,
errors are very likely to creep in and to be perpetuated. And
so it has been in the present case. The three earliest versions of
the Pentateuch are the Hebrew, the Samaritan, and the Septua-
gint: and between these three versions there is a very great
discrepancy with regard to the figures in question; so great
indeed as to make up, on the whole, a difference of 1500 years,
or more, in the age of the human race. In the following table,
for which we are indebted to the work of a modern writer, this
diversity of reading is set forth in a very simple and intelligent
form : —
Adam,
Seth,
Enos,
Cainan,
Malaleel,
Jared,
Henoch,
Mathusala,
Lamech,
Noe,
Sem,
From the Creation of Adam to two
years after the Flood,3
AGE OF EACH WHEN THE NEXT WAS BORN,
ACCORDING TO
Septuagint.
Hebrew.
Samaritan.
230
130
130
..
205
105
105
,.
190
90
90
.,
170
70
70
..
165
65
65
,,
162
162
62
..
165
65
65
..
187
187
67
it
188
182
53
,,
502
502
502
..
100
100
100
2264
1658
1309
' Genesis, xii. 4.
a Ib., v. 3-9.
8 " Sem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years after
the flood" — Genesis, xi. 10.
'
54
Geology and Revelation.
Arphaxad,
Cainan,1
Sale,
Heber,
Phaleg,
Beu,
Sarug,
Nachor,
Thare,
Abraham called by God
From the Flood to the Call of Abra-
ham ... •««
From the Creation of Adam to the
Call of Abraham, ...
135
130
130
134
130
132
130
79
70
75
1145
3409
35
30
34
30
32
30
29
70
75
365
2023
135
130
134
130
132
130
79
70
75
1015
2324
Of these three lists one only can represent the true age of the
human race when Abraham went forth, at the command of God,
from his country and his kindred and his father's house, to go
into the land of Canaan : and, at this distance of time, it is im-
possible to determine with anything like certainty, which of the
three has the greatest claim on our acceptance. The Church
has not pronounced upon the subject ; and the question is freely
discussed among Biblical scholars. But the details of this con-
troversy have little to do with our present argument. Enough
it is for us to know that, from the Creation of Adam to the
Birth of Christ, cannot have been above six thousand years at
the highest computation, nor much below four thousand at the
lowest. Adding 1868 years of the Christian Era, the present
age of the Human Race according to the data of the Bible
would seem to lie somewhere between six and eight thousand
years.
The Bible, then, does determine, though with some obscurity,
the age of the Human Race. We have now to consider whether,
in fixing the age of the Human Race, it fixes likewise the age of
the World itself. For this purpose we must turn our attention
to the first chapter of Genesis. In that chapter the whole his-
tory of the Creation is briefly recorded. It begins with the
creation of the Heavens and the Earth, and it ends with the
creation of Man. If it should appear that these two events were
comprised within the narrow space of a few days, then indeed
the age of the Woxld must agree pretty nearly with the age of
the Human Race: but if on, the other hand, between these two
events the Sacred Record allows us to suppose an interval of
indefinite length, then it is equally plain that the age of the
iuman Race, as set forth in the Bible Genealogies, can afford
Cainan does not aPPear in the Hebrew or the Samaritan
Antiquity of the Earth. 55
no evidence against the extreme antiquity of the Earth. The
question is thus brought within very narrow limits. We have
simply to take up the First Chapter of Genesis, and inquire
whether or no it is there conveyed that the Creation of Man,
which is described towards the close of the chapter, followed after
the lapse of only a few days upon the Creation of the Heavens
and the Earth, which is recorded in the first verse.
For many centuries this question received but little attention
from the readers of the Bible. It was commonly assumed that,
as the various events of the Creation are traced out in rapid suc-
cession by the Inspired Writer, and strung together into one con-
tinuous narrative, so did they follow one another, in reality, with
a corresponding rapidity, and in the same unbroken continuity.
The progress of physical science had not yet shown any neces-
sity for supposing a lengthened period of time to have elapsed
between the Creation of the World and the Creation of Man :
nor was there anything in the narrative itself to suggest such an
idea. Thus it was generally taken for granted, almost without
discussion, that, when God had created the Heavens and the
Earth in the beginning, He at once set about the work of
arranging and furnishing the universe, and fitting it up for the
use of man ; that He distributed this work over a period of six
ordinary days, and at the close of the sixth day, introduced our
First Parents upon the scene ; and that, therefore, the beginning
of the Human Race is but six days later than the beginning of
the World.
These notions about the history of the Creation continued to
prevail almost down to our own time. It is to be observed,
however, that they were not founded on a close and scientific
examination of the Sacred Text. The hypothesis of a long and
eventful state of existence prior to the Creation of Man may be
said rather to have been overlooked, than to have been rejected,
by our Commentators. There was no good reason for enter-
taining such a speculation, and so they said nothing about it.
But now that the world is ringing with the wonderful dis-
coveries of Geology, which seem to point more and more clearly
every day to the extreme Antiquity of the Earth, it becomes an
imperative duty to examine once again with all diligence and
care the Inspired narrative of the Creation, and to consider well
the relation in which it stands with this new dogma of physical
Science.
We are not the first to enter upon this inquiry. Already it
has engaged the attention and stimulated the industry of Theo-
logical writers for more than half a century. Many eminent^
men, distinguished alike for their extensive acquirements and
for their religious zeal, have protested warmly against the opinion
56 Geology and Revelation.
of Geologists, concerning the Antiquity of the Earth, as one that
cannot be reconciled with the historical accuracy of the Bible.
But, on the other hand, there are writers no less illustrious, and
no less sincerely attached to the cause of religion, who contend
that there is nothing in the Sacred Text to exclude the suppo-
sition of a long and indefinite interval — an interval if neces-
sary of many millions of years— between the first creation of
matter and the creation of man. Thirty years ago this opinion
was defended by Cardinal Wiseman with great learning, and
with great felicity of illustration, in his famous Lectures on
the Connection between Science and Revealed Religion. The
eminent Roman Jesuit, Father Perrone, has also adopted this
view; and has introduced it into his Prcelectiones Tlieologicce,
which, as every one knows, has long since become a classic work
in our schools of Theology. It lias been yet more fully dis-
cussed, and supported by more elaborate arguments, in a work
entitled Cosmogonia Naturale Comparata col Genesi, lately pub-
lished in Rome at the press of the Civilta Cattolica by another
distinguished Jesuit, John Baptist Pianciani. Amongst Protes-
tant writers, too, this view of the Mosaic narrative has found no
inconsiderable number of able advocates. It is defended by Doctor
Buckland, the eminent Geologist, in his celebrated Bridgewater
Treatise, by Doctor Chalmers in his Evidences of the Christian
Revelation, by Doctor Pye Smith in his dissertations on Geology
and Scripture, by the eloquent and original Hugh Millar in his
interesting work on the Testimony of the Rocks; and by a host
of others not less distinguished than these.
But these learned writers are not altogether of one accord as
to the precise point in the First Chapter of Genesis, at which
we may suppose a long interval of time to have intervened.
Some, with Doctor Buckland, Doctor Pye Smith, and Doctor
Chalmers, consider that this interval may best be introduced
between the beginning of all time, when God created the
Heavens and the Earth, and the beginning of the First Day,
when He set about preparing the world as a dwelling place for
man. Sacred Scripture, they say, simply records these two
events (1) that " In the beginning God created the Heavens
and the Earth", and (2) that, at some subsequent time, " God
said: Let there be light: and light was made". But Sacred
Scripture does not tell us what length of time elapsed between
these two great acts of Divine Omnipotence. For aught we
know from Revelation, it may have been but a single day, or it
may have been a million of years. Others again, as for instance,
tiugh Millar, and the Jesuit Pianciani, prefer to suppose that
each one of the Six Days may have been itself a period of inde-
finite, nay of almost inconceivable duration. So that, between
Antiquity of the Earth. 57
the beginning of the world and the creation of man six great
ages of the Earth's history may have rolled by, each one distin-
guished by a new manifestation of God's power, and the intro-
duction of new forms of life. These writers even fancy that
they can discover a close analogy between the successive acts of
creation recorded in Genesis, and the gradual development of
organic life exhibited in the great Epochs of Geology.
To us it seems that either one or the other of these two sys-
tems, or both together, may be fairly admitted without any
undue violence to the text of the Inspired narrative : and this,
we would observe in passing, is the opinion to which Cardinal
Wiseman appeared to incline thirty years ago, in his Lec-
tures on the Connection between Science and Religion. We
maintain, then, in the first place, that there is nothing in the
Mosaic narrative, when carefully examined, at variance with the
hypothesis of an indefinite interval between the creation of the
world and the work of the Six Days. And in the second place
we contend that it is quite consistent with the usage of Sacred
Scripture to explain these Days of Creation as long periods of
time.
It may appear, perhaps, to some of our readers that this is
dangerous ground on which we are about to venture. They
may have been accustomed all their lives to view the history of
the Creation through the medium of those notions that com-
monly prevailed before the discoveries of Geology: and from
the influence of long association they may have come in the end
to regard their own interpretation as scarcely less venerable and
sacred than the Inspired Text itself. Such persons will natu-
rally be disposed to look upon our undertaking with disfavour
and suspicion. They will think us guilty of irreverence towards
Holy Scripture when we seek to modify our views about its
meaning, in deference to the conclusions of physical science;
and they may be tempted even to charge us with putting the
idle speculations of men into the balance against the Inspired
Word of God.
To this line of objection we would answer, that we cannot be
guilty of irreverence to Holy Scripture, when we are only
striving, humbly and diligently, to discover the true meaning
of an obscure and difficult passage, on which the Church has
pronounced no definite judgment; nor can we be said to make
light of the Word of God, when we are but attempting to defend
its unerring veracity from the assaults of infidel writers. Fur-
thermore we would add that, if it is a dangerous thing to modify
the received interpretation of certain parts of the Scripture, when
the progress of science enables us to see physical phenomena
58 Geology and Revelation.
under a new light, it is a far more dangerous thing to persist in
imputing to Scripture a doctrine that in a very short time may
be proved to be false beyond the possibility of contradiction.
These sentiments are not altogether our own. They have
come to us, in great part, from an illustrious Doctor of the
Church; and we are glad, at this early stage of ^our discussion,
to be able to shelter ourselves under the authority of his vene-
rable name. It is now fourteen centuries and a half since Saint
Augustine set about the literal interpretation of Genesis, which
he accomplished in a Treatise of twelve books. Towards the
close of the first book he expatiates at some length on the
dimculty of his undertaking, and on the variety of diverse inter-
pretations, which even then prevailed in the Church. From this
he takes occasion to warn his readers that, "if we find any-
thing in Divine Scripture that may be variously explained,
without any injury to faith, we should not rush headlong by
positive assertion either to one opinion or the other ; lest, if per-
chance the opinion we have adopted should afterwards turn out
to be false, our faith should fall with it ; and we should be found
contending, not so much for the doctrine of the Sacred Scrip-
tures, as for our own ; endeavouring to make our doctrine to be
that of the Scriptures, instead of taking the doctrine of the
Scripture to be ours".1 And a little further on, he again exposes
the imprudence of such a proceeding, in words that cannot but
be considered peculiarly applicable to our present subject: —
" It often happens that one who is not a Christian hath some
knowledge derived from the clearest arguments or from the
evidence of his senses about the earth, about the heavens, about
the other elements of this world, about the movements and re-
volutions, or about the size and the distances of the stars, about
certain eclipses of the sun and moon, about the course of the
years and the seasons, about the nature of animals, plants, and
minerals, and about other things of a like kind. Now it is an
unseemly and mischievous thing, and greatly to be avoided, that
a Christian man speaking on such matters, as if according to the
authority of Christian Scripture, should talk so foolishly that
the unbeliever on hearing him, and observing the extravagance
of his error, should hardly be able to refrain from laughing.
And the great mischief is, not so much that the man himself is
" Et in rebus obscuris atque a nostris oculis remotissimis, si qua inde scripta
Jtiam divina legerimus, quae possunt salva fide qua imbuimur, alias atque alias
parere sententias ; in nullam earum nos praecipiti affirmatione ita projiciamus,
forte diligentius discussa veritas earn recte labefactaverit, corruamus :
non pro sententia divinarum Scripturarum, sed pro nostra ita dimicantes, ut
earn velimus Scripturarum esse, quae nostra est ; cum potius earn quae Scrip-
turarum est, nostram ewe velle debeamus". De Genesi ad Litteraw, lib. i. cap.
Antiquity of the Earth. 59
laughed at for his errors, but that our authors are believed, by
people without the Church, to have taught such things, and so
are condemned as unlearned, and cast aside, to the great loss of
those for whose salvation we are so much concerned. For, when
they find one belonging to the Christian body falling into error
on a subject with which they themselves are thoroughly con-
versant, and when they see him moreover enforcing his ground-
less opinion by the authority of our Sacred Books, how are they
likely to put trust in these Books about the resurrection of the
dead, and the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven,
having already come to regard them as fallacious about those
things they had themselves learned from observation or from
unquestionable evidence ? And indeed it were not easy to tell
what trouble and sorrow some rash and presumptuous men bring
upon their prudent brethren, who, when they are charged with
a perverse and false opinion by those who do not accept the
authority of our Books, attempt to put forward these same Holy
Books in defence of that which they have lightly and falsely
asserted, sometimes even quoting from memory what they think
will suit their purpose, and putting forth many words without
well understanding either what they say or what they are talk-
ing about".1
And many ages after, Saint Thomas, the great luminary of
the schools, appeals to this wise admonition of Saint Augustine,
and applies it to the circumstances of his own times. Writing
about the work of the second day, he tells us that " in questions
1 " Plenimque enim accidit ut aliquid de terra, de coelo, de coeteris hujus
mundi elementis, de motu et conversipne vel etiam de magnitudine et inter-
vallis siderum, de certis defectibus solis ac lunae, de circuitibus annorum et
temporum, de naturis anirnalium, fruticum, lapidum atque hujusmodi caeteris,
etiam non christianus ita noverit, ut certissima ratione vel experientia teneat.
Turpe est autem nimis et perniciosum ac maxime cavendum, ut christianum
de his rebns quasi secundum Christianas Litteras loquentem, ita delirare qui-
libet infidelis audiat, ut, quemadmodum dicitur, toto coelo errore conspiciens,
risum tenere vix possit. Et non tarn molestum est, quod errans homo deri-
detur, sed quod auctores nostri ab eis qui foris sunt, talia sensisse creduntur, et
cum magno eorum exitio de quorum salute satagimus, tanquam indocti repre-
henduntur atque respuuntur. Cum enim quemquam de numero christianorum
in ea re quam optime norunt, errare deprehenderint, et vanam sententiam
suam de nostris Libris asserere; quo pacto illis Libris credlturi sunt, de resur-
rectioue inortuorum, et de spe vitae aeternae, regnoque coelorum, quando de
his rebus quas jam experiri, vel indubitatis numeris percipere potuerunt, fal-
laciter putaverint esse conscriptos ? Quid enim molestiae tristitiaeque inge-
rant prudentibus fratribus temerarii praesumptores, satis dici non potest, cum
si quando de prara et falsa opinione sua reprehendi, et convinci coeperint ab
eis qui nostrorum Librorum auctoritate non tenentur, ad defendendum id quod
levissima temeritate et apertissima falsitate dixerunt, eosdem Libros sanctos,
unde id probent, proferre conantur, vel etiam memoriter, quae ad testimonium
valere arbitrantur, multa inde verba pronuntiant, 'non intelligentes neque
quae loquuntur, neque de quibus affirmant' (I. Tim., i. 7)". Ibid., cap. xix.
60 Geology and Revelation.
of this sort there are two things to be observed : first, that the
truth of Scripture be resolutely upheld; secondly, since Scrip,
ture doth often admit of diverse interpretations, that we must
not cling to any particular exposition with such pertinacity, that
if what we suppose to be the sense of Scripture, should after-
wards turn out to be clearly false, we should nevertheless still
presume to put it forward ; lest by so doing we should expose
the Inspired Word of God to the derision of unbelievers, and
shut them out from the way of salvation".1
Under the sanction of two such illustrations, Saints and
Doctors, we need not hesitate to proceed in our attempt ^ to
reconcile the Inspired narrative of the Creation with the doctrine
of the Antiquity of the Earth as set forth by the advocates of
Geology. Let it be remembered, however, that we do not un-
dertake to prove the extreme Antiquity of the Earth from the
language of Scripture ; but simply to show that the language of
Scripture leaves the Antiquity of the Earth an open question.
The Geologist holds that this Globe of ours has been in existence
for hundreds of thousands, perhaps for millions, of years ; and
our object is to show that while maintaining this opinion, he
may, nevertheless, accept the historical truth of the Bible nar-
rative.
As before explained, two points arise for discussion: first, can
we suppose an interval of indefinite length to have elapsed be-
tween the Creation of the World and the work of the Six Days ;
and secondly, is it lawful to explain these Days in the sense of
long periods? We shall take these two questions in succession,
dealing with each upon its own merits : and if we fail to enforce
conviction, we hope, at least, to vindicate our right to toleration.
The opening verses of the Mosaic history may be rendered
thus literally from the Hebrew text : —
(1) " In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.
(2) " And the Earth was waste and empty ; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep ; and the spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters.
(3) " And God said, Let there be light ; and there was light.
(4) " And God saw the light that it was good ; and God divided
the Light from the darkness.
(5) " And God called the light Day, and the darkness he
" Dicendum quod, sicut Augustinus docet, in hujusmodi quaestionibus duo
sunt observanda. Primo quidem, ut veritas Scripturae inconcusse teneatur.
becundo, cum Scriptura divina multipliciter exponi possit, quod nulli expo-
wtioni aliquis ita praecise inhaereat, ut si certa ratione constiterit hoc esse
rfalsumquodaliqui8 sensum Sripturae esse credebat id nihilominus asserere
praesumat ; ne bcriptura ex hoc ab infidelibus derideatur, et ne eis via credendi
pnechulatur". Summa Theologica, Pars Priiua, Quaest. Ixviii. art. primua.
Antiquity of the Earth. 61
•
called Night. And the evening was, and the morning was the
first day".
Now, it appears to us that the great event with which this
narrative begins, the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, is
not represented as a part of the work that was accomplished
within the Six Days. It is not said that on the first day God
created the Heavens and the Earth, but in the beginning. Besides,
the Sacred writer, uniformly throughout the chapter, employs
one and the same peculiar phrase to introduce the work of each
successive day. In describing the operations of God on the
second day he begins: " And God said, let there be a firmament
in the midst of the waters": on the third day, " And God said,
let the waters that are under the Heavens be gathered together
into one place": on the fourth, " And God said, let there be
lights in the firmament of the Heavens to divide the day from
the night": on the fifth, " And God said, let the waters bring
forth the creeping thing having life": on the sixth, " And God
said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind".
Hence, when we meet this very phrase for the first time in the
third verse, "And God said, let there be light", we may
reasonably suppose that the work of the first day began with
the decree which is set forth in these words. If so, it plainly
follows that we may allow the existence of created matter before
that particular epoch of time which, in the language of Moses,
is styled the first day; for, before the creation of light, the
Heavens and the Earth were already in existence, and the
Earth was waste and empty, and darkness was upon the face of
the deep, and the spirit of God moved over the face of the
waters.
An objection is sometimes raised from the words of God in
the promulgation of the third commandment: — " Six days shalt
thou labour and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the
sabbath of the Lord thy God ; thou shalt do no work on it. . .
For in six days the Lord made the Heavens and the Earth
and the sea, and all that in them is, and resteth the seventh
day".1 It is argued that the creation of the Heavens and the
Earth is here set forth as a part of the work accomplished within
the Six Days, which is directly against our opinion. This diffi-
culty would be simply insurmountable, if it could be proved
that the text refers to that first act of creation by which the
Heavens and the Earth were brought into existence out of
nothing. We think, however, that the phrase may fairly be
understood to mean, in six days the Lord, fashioned the Heavens
and the Earth; that is to say, gave to them that form and shape
1 Exodus, xx , 9-11.
62 Geology and Revelation.
and outward character which they now possess. In tins sense
the words would apply, not to the first act of creation out of
nothing, but rather to that subsequent series of operations by
which the earth was fitted up and furnished for the use of man.
And this interpretation is supported by the authority of our
best Commentators. Perrerius formally discusses the point, and
maintains that God may truly be said to have made the Heavens
and the Earth in Six Days, although the Heavens and the Earth,
as far as regards their substantial matter, had been created before
the first day, for it was only within the Six Days that they were
adorned and completed and perfected.1 Tostatus is not less ex-
plicit. In this passage, he says, the word made is very properly
employed, for the Heavens and the Earth which are here referred
to, and the other things that are included under this general
designation, were all made from matter already existing, but
this matter itself was not made, it was created? Petavius also
adopts this view in his remarks upon the fourth verse of the
second chapter of Genesis.3
We may add that this mode of explaining the passage receives
no small support from the Hebrew text. When it is said, in the
first chapter of Genesis, that " In the beginning God created the
Heavens and the Earth", the word used by the Sacred writer is
K£ (Bara), which strictly means to create out of nothing, whereas,
in describing the operations of the Six Days, he commonly
uses the word "»; (Hasah), which means to form and fashion,
or to produce something out of pre-existing materials.4 Now, in
the text of Exodus, we find the word ^» (Hasah), to fashion or
produce, and not the word «ja (Bara), to create. We do not
want to insist very rigorously upon this distinction between the
two words K^» (Bar a] and *&* (Hasah), nor would we deny that
they are sometimes interchanged as regards their meaning. We
think they are related to one another pretty nearly as the cor-
'"Quod antemin xx. et xxxi. cap. Exod. dictum est, Deum sex diebus.
fecisse ccelum et terram, et omnia quae in eis sunt, non est huic opinion! con-
trarium : illud enim spatium temporis ante primum diem annumeratur sex
diebus, quia fuit quam brevissimum, et fuit continuata Dei operatic : nee sane
plures dies naturales consumpti sunt quam sex : ac licet ante primum diem,
coelum et elementa facta sint secundum substantiam, tamen non fuerunt per-
fecta et omnino consummata, nisi spatio illorum sex dierum ; tune enim datus
eat illis ornatus, complementum, et perfectio".— Comment, in Genes., cap. i., v. 4.
' 6ex diebus fecit Doninus coelum et terram. Recte dicitur hie facere, quia
m et terra, quae hie nominantur, et omnia alia, quae nomine eorum sub-
intelhguntur, ista quidem omnia de materia prima facta sunt : materia autem
noujacta Bed create est"— Comment, in Exod., cap. xx., qusest. 15.
Wilting on the phrase, In die quo fecit Dominus Deus coelum et terram, he
says, hoc est, perpolitum et elaboratum esse sex continuis diebus, id enim
/actendt vox Hebraeis ipsis interpretibus significare videtur"— De Opificio Sex
Uierum, lib. i , cap. xir., sect. i.
4 See Geseniua, sub vocibus.
Antiquity of the Earth. 65
responding words to create and to make in the English, and we
know that the distinction between these two words is not always
strictly observed. Thus, we sometimes say that God made the
world, meaning that He brought it forth irom nothing, and we
speak of the creation of peers ; and Shakspeare says : —
" Now is the time of help ; your eye in Scotland
Would create soldiers, make our women fight
To doff their dire distresses". — Macbeth, act iv., sc. iii.
Nevertheless, when we compare two such passages as these : —
" In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth",
and "In Six Days the Lord made the Heavens and the Earth
and the sea, and all that in them is", we think the studied con-
trast of expression is a fair ground for supposing that, while the
one refers to the Divine decree by which matter was first created,
the other may be understood of those subsequent operations by
which it received its present form and shape.
We see no difficulty, then, as far as the Sacred Text is con-
cerned, in supposing a condition of created existence prior to
the period of the Six Days. But since this opinion is the foun-
dation on which our whole argument rests, we should wish to
show, moreover, even at the risk of being tedious, that it has
been put forward and defended by the most eminent writers in
every age of the Church. Amongst the early Fathers Saint
Basil reasons after this manner when commenting upon the pas-
sage, " There was evening and there was morning the first day":
— " The evening is the common term of day and night ; and, in
like manner, the morning is the point of union between night
and day. Wherefore, in order to signify that to the day belonged
the prerogative of being the first begotten, the sacred writer
first commemorates the close of day, and afterwards the close
of night ; implying thereby that the day was followed by the night.
As to the condition of the world before the formation of light,
that is not called night, but simply darkness; whereas that period
which is distinguished from day and opposed to it, is called
night".1 This great Doctor, therefore, teaches that the First
Day began with a period of light which is called day, and ended
with a period of darkness which is called night ; and he recog-
nizes a previous state of existence which was no part of the First
Day. So, too, Saint Chrysostom, in his third Homily upon
1 " Et facia est vespera, et factum est mane, dies unus. Vespera igitur diei ac
noctis est communis terminus : et similiter mane, est noctis cum die vicinitas.
Itaque ut prioris generationis praerogativam diet tribueret, prius commemoravit
finem diei, deinde noctis, velut insequemte diem iiocte. Nam qui status in
mundo fuit ante lucis generationem, is non erat nox, sed tenebrae : quod autem
a die distinguebatur, eique opponebatur, id nox appellatum est". Homilia 11.
in Hexaemeron. Edit. Bened. p. 20. Edit. Migne, Fatr. Grace. Cursus Com-
pletus, torn. 29, p. 47.
(54 Geology and Revelation.
Genesis, lays down that the Earth was first created a rude and
shapeless mass, without form or ornament; that afterwards light
was made, and that, with the creation of light, the First Day
began.1 ..
In the Western Church Saint Ambrose adopts the same line
of interpretation. He sets forth that God first created the world,
in the beginning; and afterwards during the Six Days furnished
and adorned it: just as a skilful workman first lays the founda-
tion of a building, and afterwards raises the superstructure, and
superadds the ornament.2 And elsewhere, he says, that when
the voice of God went forth, " Let light be made", in the same
moment, the First Day began.3 It follows, therefore, that the
world existed before the beginning of the First Day. In another
place he gives a new turn to the same idea, telling us that in the
beginning God made the world ; and with the world time began.
But not with time did the First Day begin : for the First day is
not the beginning of time, it is rather an epoch of time.4
Passing on to the middle ages, we find our view supported by
the authority of Venerable Bede, in several parts of his writings.
1 " OstendimuB enim heri, ut meministis, quomodp beatus Moses enarraus
nobis horurn visibilium elementorum creationem et opificium, dixerit : In prin-
cipio fecit Deus coelum et terram: terra autem erat invisibilis et incomposita: et
vos causam docuimus, quare Deus terram informem et nullis figuris expolitara
creaverit ; quae, opinor, omnia mente tenetis: necessarium est igitur nos ad ea
quae sequuntur hodie progredi. Nam postquam dixit, Terra autem erat invisi-
bilu et incomposita, nos accurate docet, unde invisibilis erat et inculta, di^ens:
£l tenebrae erant super abyssum, et Spiritus Dei superferebatur super aquam. . . »
Quandoquidem igitur diffusa erat magna universi visibilis inform itas, prae-
cepto suo Deus, optimus illo artifex, deformitatem illam depulit, et immensa
lucis visibilis pulchritude producto tenebras fugavit sensibiies, illustravit que
omnia." In Cap. I. Genes. Homil. III. Edit. Migne, Patr. Graec. Cursus
Completus, torn. 53, p. 33.
Here Saint Chrysostom plainly teaches that the world existed before the
creation of light. In his Fifth Homily he is equally clear that the First Day
of the Mosaic narrative began with a period of light, and not with a period of
darkness :
" Vide quomodo de singulis diebus sic dicat : '•Et factum est vespere, et factum
est mane, dies tertius: non simpliciter nee absque causa: sed ne ordinem con-
fundamus neque putemus vespera ingruente finem accepisse diem; sed sciamus
vesperam finem esse lucis, et principium noctis: mane autem finem noetic, et
complementum dici. Hoc enim nos docere vult beatus Moses, dicens: Et fac-
tum est vespere, et /actum est mane, aies tertius. Edit. Migne, p. 52.
" Terra autem erat invisibilis et incomposita. Bonus artifex prius funda-
mentum ponit : postea, fundamento posito, aedificationis membra distinguit,
et ad ju i) git ornatum. Posito igitur fundamento terrae, et confirmata coeli
•ubstantia, duo enim ista sunt velut cardines rerum, subtexuit: Terra autem
erat inanis et incomposita". Hexaemeron, Lib. I. cap. 7, Edit. Bened. p. 13.
Edit. Migne, Pair. Lat. Cursus Completus, torn. 14, p. 135.
* Principium ergo dici, vox Dei est : Jiat lux; et facta est lux". Lib. I. cap.
10. Edit. Beued. p. 21. Edit. Migne, p. 144.
" In principle itaque temporis coelum et terram Deus fecit. Tempus enim
ab hoc mundo, non ante mundum : dies autem temporis portio est non princi-
pium". Lib. I. cap. 6. Edit. Bened. p. 10. Flit Migne, p. 132
Antiquity of the Earth. 65
His notion is that, during the Six Days, God formed and
fashioned the world out of shapeless matter; but before the
Six Days began, He had made this shapeless matter itself out
of nothing. " Two things", he says, " did God make before all
days, the angelical nature, and shapeless matter".1 And again,
he dresses up this opinion in the form of a dialogue : — " Disciple.
Tell me the order in which things were made throughout the
Six Days? Master. First, in the very beginning of created
existence, were made heaven and earth, the angels, air, and
water. Disciple. Continue the order of creation? Master. In
the beginniny of the First Day light was made ; on the second
was made the firmament", etc.a Nothing can be more plain than
the distinction here set up between the beginning of all time,
when the Heavens and the Earth were made, and the beginning
of the First Day, when light was made.
And when we come to still more recent times, we find that
this interpretation was taken up and defended by the great
masters in the schools of Theology. Peter Lombard, the famous
Magister Sententiarum , referring to the first verse of Genesis^
says, that " in the beginning God created Heaven, which means
the Angels, and the Earth, which means confused and unshapely
matter, the same that is called Chaos by the Greeks ; and this
was before any day'? Not less clearly speaks out Hugh of
Saint Victor, who for his profound and varied erudition, was
1 " Scriptura ait : Quifecisti mundum de materia informi. Sed materia facta
est de nihilo, mundi vero species de informi materia. Proinde duas res ante
omnem diem et ante omne tempus eondidit Deus, angelicam videlicet creatu-
ram et informem materiam". In Pentateuch. Comment.; sub. cap. I. Edit.
Migne, Patr. Lat. Cursus Completus, torn 91,/>. 191. In another place, citing
the words of Ecclesiasticus, " Qui vivit in aeternum creavit omnia simul", he says,
"hoc utique ante omnem diem hujus saeculi fecit, cum in principio coelum
creavit et terrain". Hexaemeron. Lib. I. in Genes, ii. 4. Edit. Migne, torn.
91, p. 39.
2 " Discipulus. Da ordinem per sex dies factarum rerum ? Magister. In
ipso quidem principio conditionis facta sunt coelum, terra, aer, et aqua
Discipulus. Sequere ordinem generations? Magister In principio diei primae
lux facta est ; secunda vero factum firmamentum" ; etc. Quaestiones super
Genesim ; Edit. Migne, Patr. Lat. torn. 93, p. 236. This work is classed by Migne
among the Dubia tt Spuria of Bede. The critics, however, seem to be agreed
that it belongs to a period not later than the tenth century. If it is not the
genuine composition of Bede, which is considered more probable, then it only
follows that we have besides Bede, another ancient authority in favour of our
opinion.
^ 3 " Cum Deus in sapientia sua angelicos eondidit spiritus, alia etiam creavit,
sicut ostendit supradicta Scriptura, qnae dicit in principio Deum creasse coelum,
id est, angelos, et terram scilicet, materiam quatuor elementorum adhuc confu-
sam et iuformem, quae a Graecis dicta est chaos, et haee fuit ante omnem diem.
Deinde elementa distingit Deus, et species proprias atque distinctas singulis
rebus secundum genus suum dedit ; quae noh simul, ut quibusdam sanctorum
Patrum placuint, sed per intervalla temporum ac sex volumina dierum, ut aliis
visum est, forma vit". Sentent. Lib. II. Distinct. 12. Edit. Migiie, Patr. Latin.
Cursus Completus, torn. 192, p. 67j.
VOL. V. 5
tjg Geology and Revelation.
called the second Augustine. In explaining the history of the
Six Days, he says: " The first of the Divine operations was the
creation of light. But the light was not then created from
nothing it was formed from pre-existing matter. This was the
work that was accomplished on the First Day: but the material
of this work had been created before the First Day. Directly
with the light the day began; for before the light it was neither
night or day, though time already existed".1
Later still, St. Thomas himself clearly leans to this view when
he says : " It is better to maintain that the creation was before
any day".1 And Perrerius, the most learned, perhaps, of all our
commentators on Genesis, argues with us that the world was.
created before the production of light, and before the commence-
ment of the First Day. Nay, he adds that he cannot tell how
long that primeval state of existence may have endured before
the Six Days began ; nor does he think it can be known except
by a special revelation.3 Petavius, too, is with us. He does
not indeed accept our interpretation of the first verse. When it
is said, " In the beginning God created the Heavens and the
Earth", he holds that these words do not describe any one parti-
cular act of God, but represent, as it were in a brief summary,
the whole work of creation. Thus we are informed, at the out-
set, that the Heavens and the Earth as we see them now are
the work of God ; and afterwards, the various parts that make
up this great whole are described, and the order in which they
were accomplished is set forth.4 According to Petavius, then,
1 " Principium ergo divinomm operum fuit creatio lucis, quando ipsalux non
materialiter de nihilo creata est; Bed de praejacenti ilia universitatis materia
formatter facta est ut lux eeset, et vim ac proprietatem lucendi haberet.
Hoc opus prima die factual est ; sed hujus operis materia ante primam
diem creata. Moxque cum ipsa luce dies caepit ; quia ante lucem nee nox fuit
nee dies, etiamsi tempusfutf'. Dt Sacram. Lib. I. Pars. I. cap. 9. Edit. Migne
Patr. Lat torn. 176, p. 193.
3 " Sed melius videtur dicendum quod creatio fuerit ante omnem diem". In II.
Sentent. Distinct, xiii. Art. 3, ad tertium : see also ibidem, ad primum, and ad
secunaum. And again in the Summa he says : " Coelum et terram fecit in
prima die, potius ante omnem diem". Pars 1. Quaest. Ixxxiv. Art. 2.
* " Licet ante primum diem, coelum et elementa facta sint secundum substantiam,
tamen non fuerint perfecta et omnino consummata, nisi spatio ill or u in sex die-
nun : tune enim datus est illis ornatus, complementum, et perfectio. Quanto
autem tempore status ille mundi tenebrosus duraverit, hoc est, utrum plus an
minus quain unus dies continere solet, nee mihi compertum est, nee opinor
cuiquam mortalium nisi cui divinitus id esset patefactum". Comment, in Gene-
simt cap. 1. v. 4.
4 u Rostra itaque sententia haec est ; prima ilia Geneseos verba : In principio
crtavit Dens coelum et terrain; non peculiare opus aliquod continere, quod ini-
tio, et ante dies sex molitus sit Deus : quasi ante lucem, ac reliquas deinceps
opiticii partes, qualecumque coelum ac terram creaverit. Sed esse generale
quoddam effatum, quo ornnia, quae sunt a Deo facta, complexus est. Etenim
Moses, ut initio dicebam, Judaeos statim edocere voluit ; totam illam aspecta-
bilem rerum uniyersitatem a Deo conditore profectam esse. Quare ita pronun-
Antiquity of the EartL 67
the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, recorded in the first
verse, was not a distinct act from the operations of the Six Days,
but rather includes them all. Nevertheless, he maintains, as we
do, that the earth, at least, and water, were in existence before
the creation of light ; and that, therefore, some period of time
must have elapsed before the beginning of the Six Days. Fur-
thermore, he says in the same spirit as Pererius, that it is beyond
our power of conjecture how long that period may have lasted.1
Our opinion, then, is not open, in the slightest degree, to the
imputation of novelty or singularity. On the contrary, it would
seem rather to reflect the prevailing tradition of the Church.
We think it right, however, to add that there are great names
against us. A Lapide, for instance, who considers that the
Heavens and the Earth were created at the1 beginning of the
First Day.2 And Tostatus, who incidentally notices our view,
and contents himself with saying that it is unreasonable.3 For
himself, he seems to waver between two opinions. He thinks
the primeval darkness, described in the second verse, may have
been the night belonging to the First Day ; and that during that
night, which probably lasted about twelve hours, we may suppose
the Heavens and the Earth to have been created. Or else, he says,
we may allow that the First Day of the Mosaic narrative began
with the creation of light ; but in that case we must hold that
the Heavens and the Earth were created at the same time with
light.4
Saint Augustine, too, we must reluctantly give up; or, at
the least, we must be content to regard him as neutral. If he
is not a decided opponent, he is certainly not a consistent advo-
cate, of our opinion. No doubt he is often quoted in its favour ;
and it would be easy to select passages from his works which
tiavit, tanquam diceret : Quidquid videtis et quodcumque coeli ac terrae com-
prehendit ambitus, una cum coelo ipso, terraque, id oume fabricatus est initis
Deus. Postea vero per partes, ac singillatim, ut quaeque est elaborata, de-
cripsit". De Opificio Sex Dierum, Lib. I. cap. II. sect. 10.
1 " Imprimis ante dierum sex initium solam cum aqua terram extitisse credi-
mus : . . . . Habet haec opinio fidem ex Mosis narratione ; qui ante coelum
id estfomamentum, terram, et aquarum abyssum extitisse lefert. . . . Nam
illud Severiani valde probatur, prima die Deum omnia creasse : reliquis
autem'diebus, ex jam extantibus: Ubi priinam diem non lucis tantum creatione
circumscribit : sed quod ante illam factuiu est, id eidem tribuit. Quod interval-
lum quantum fuerit, nulla divinatio posset assequi. Neque vero mundi corpora
ilia, quae prima omnium extitisse docui, aquam et terram, arbitror eodem,inquem
lucis ortus incidit, fabricata esse die ; ut quibusdam placet, baud satis linn a
ratione". Ibid. cap. x. sect. 6.
2 " S. Basilius et Beda putant coelum et terram non primo die, sed paulo
ante primum diem, utpote ante lucem, creata esse. Verum haec non ante, sed
ipso primo die, puta initio primae diei, antequam lux produceretur, creata esse,
patet Exodi xx. v. 11". Comment, in Genes. , cap. i. v. 1.
3 In Genes., cap. i. Quaest. xiv.
*Id.ib.
6l
gg Geology and Revelation.
seem to enforce it in the plainest terms. As for example: "In
the beginning, O my God, before any day, Thou didst make
the Heavens and the Earth".1 But the fact is, this opinion is
utterly irreconcilable with the well-known and very singular
teaching of Saint Augustine concerning the creation of the world.
He held that all the great works recounted in the first chapter of
Genesis were accomplished in an instant of time. There was no
real succession, according to him, in the order of time, between
the production of the Heavens and the Earth, of light and the
firmament, of the sun, and moon, and stars, of plants, and trees,
and animals. In one and the same instant of time all these
came into existence together. As to the description given by
Moses, it is accommodated to the capacity of a rude people ;
and the succession there set forth is intended only to exhibit the
several parts of a great whole in the manner best suited to the
conceptions of human intelligence.2
This view of the creation is repeated again and again by Saint
Augustine in his numerous works upon Genesis, and illustrated
in diverse ways, so as to leave no doubt that he held it delibe-
rately and persistently. With regard to such passages as that
quoted above, in which he says that God created the Heavens
and the Earth before any day, it may be said that Saint Augus-
tine was not always consistent with himself, and that he held
different opinions at different times ; or even that he put forward
opposite opinions at the same time, not setting them forth as
true, but only as possible and legitimate.3 We think, however,
that his consistency, in this case at least, can be defended, and
that he has himself sufficiently explained in what sense he wished
these passages to be understood. He tells us we must distinguish
two lands of succession : succession in the order of time, and
succession in the order of our conceptions. Thus, for example,
in the order of time there is no succession between the sound of
the voice in singing and the musical note that is sung : the sound
is, in fact, the note, and the note is the sound. But in the order
of our conceptions we first apprehend a thing according to its
' " Fecisti ante omnem diem in principle coelum et terram. Confess. Lib.
xii. cap. 12: see also Lib, xii. cap. 8. And again, De Genesi ad Litteram, Lib.
I. Cap. 9, he writes :— -|'Atque illud ante omnem diem fecisse intelligitur, quod
dictum est, In vrincipio fecit Deus coelum et terram; . . . Terrae autem
nomine invisibilis et intompositae, ac tenebrosa abysso, imperfectio corporalis
substantiae significata est, unde temporalia ilia fierent, quorum prima esset
8 See his various works upon Genesis, passim : particularly De Genesi ad
Litteram, Lib i. c.xv; Lib. iv. cap. xxxiii: De Genesi Liber Imperfectus,
cap. vn. near the end, and cap. ix. near the end.
"This latter view of the case might be defended in accordance with the
principles which Saint Augustine professes to follow in the interpretation of
Genesis : see De Genesi ad Litteram, Lib. i., cap. xxi. and cap xxii
Antiquity of the Earth. 69
substance, and then according to its qualities. We first conceive
the sound itself, as a sound, and then we conceive it as having
that peculiar quality which makes it a musical note. Such as
this is the succession Saint Augustine seems to admit in the
order of the creation. He tells us, no doubt, that God first
created shapeless matter, and afterwards gave to it form and
beauty; and certainly this statement, if standing alone, would,
according to the ordinary use of language, imply a real succes-
sion in the order of time. But then a little further on he ex-
pressly repudiates the idea of a succession in point of time, and
says that the priority he ascribes to shapeless matter is only a
priority in the order of our conceptions. We must first conceive
matter to exist before we can conceive it to have this or that
particular form ; and the Inspired Writer follows the order of our
conceptions, in order to adapt his narrative to the mental feeble-
ness of our present condition.1 With the truth or falsehood of
these views we are not concerned just now. We have dwelt
upon them rather from an honest desire of showing that Saint
Augustine is not so clearly on our side in this question, as might
be supposed from some isolated passages of his writings. He
says indeed that the world was created before light, and before
the beginning of the First Day ; but then again he tells us that
this is only a way of speaking, and that, in reality, all things
were created together.
But although these high authorities — A Lapide, Tostatus,
Saint Augustine — and some others less illustrious than these, are
unfavourable to our interpretation, we think it is supported by a
preponderance of the best interpreters, both in ancient and mo-
dern times. At all events, with such an array of venerable names
as we have been able to bring forward in its behalf, — and they
are but a few chosen out of many, — no one can deny that we
are fairly entitled to hold it without any note of censure, without
any suspicion of Theological error. Setting out, then, from this
point, that there was a state of created existence prior to the Six
Days of the Mosaic history, the question naturally arises, how
long did that state of existence endure ? Was it for an hour ?
a day ? a week ? a month ? a century ? a million of years ? We
cannot tell. To these questions the Sacred Text gives no reply.
It simply records that in the beginning God created the Heavens
and the Earth, and that, at some subsequent epoch of time, His
decree again went forth, Let there be light, and light there was.
One thing, however, is plain, that, if this period existed at all, it
might just as well have lasted a hundred millions of years as a
hundred seconds. It would be folly to attempt to measure the
1 See De Gen. ad Litteram, Lib. i. cap. xv,; Dt Genesi Liber Imperfectus,
cap. vii.j Confess., Lib, xii. cap. xxix.
70 Geology and Revelation.
succession of God's acts, when He does please to produce effects
in succession, according to our petty standards of .time. " One
day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years
as one day".1
And it is not a little remarkable that long before the discove-
ries of Geology had suggested any necessity for allowing the
lapse of many ages between the first creation of the world and
the creation of man, the sagacity of our commentators led them
to observe that the duration of this interval is left undefined in
the Sacred Record. " How long that interval may have lasted",
says Petavius, " it is absolutely impossible to conjecture".2 And
Perrerius, as we have seen, declared that it could not be known
except by a special revelation.3 And five centuries earlier, at
the very dawn of scholastic Theology, Hugh of Saint Victor
raised the same question, and pressed his opinion that it could
not be solved from Scripture. Citing the passage, In the begin-
ning God created the Heavens and the Earth, he says, " From
these words it is plain that in the beginning of time, or rather
with time itself, the original matter of all things came into exist-
ence. But how long it remained in this confused and unshapely
condition the Scripture clearly does not tell us".4
We may go further still. If we are #t liberty to admit an
interval of indefinite length between the creation of the world
and the work of the Six Days, there is certainly nothing which
forbids us to suppose that, during this long period, the Earth
should have undergone many revolutions, and have been peopled
by countless tribes of plants and animals, which, as age rolled
on after age, came into existence, and died out, and were suc-
ceeded by new creations. We cannot, perhaps, see the use of
all this, nor can we penetrate the motives the Great Creator
might have had in bringing into existence such a boundless
profusion of organic life. Granted : but then we have studied
the Sacred Text to little purpose if we have not yet realized
the solemn truth that to our poor and feeble intellects His judg-
ments are incomprehensible, and His ways unsearchable. Did
1 Pet. iii. 8.
J " Quod intervallum quantum f uerit, nulla divinatio posset assequi. De
Opiftc. Sex Dierum, Lib. i., cap. 10, sec. 6.
" Quanto autem tempore status ille mundi tenebrosus durarerit, hoc est,
utrum plus an minus quam unus dies continere solet, nee mini compertum est,
nee opinor cuiquam mortalium, nisi cui divinitus id esset patefactum".— Com-
ment, in Genes., cap. i., v. 4.
" Fortassis jam satis est de his hactenus disputasse, si hoc solum adjecerimus
quanta tempore mundus in hac confusione, prius quarn ejus dispositio inchoaretur,
perstiterit. Nam quod ilia prima rerum omnium materia, in principle temporis,
vel potms cum ipso tempore exorta sit, constat ex eo quod dictum est: in
principle creavit Deus coelum et terram. Quamdiu autem in hac informitate
sive contusione permanserit, Scriptura manife$te non Qstendit." De Sacram. lib.
I., pars i., cap. G.
Antiquity of the Earth. 71
He not set His stars in the remotest regions of space, far beyond
the reach of unaided human vision, and did they not shine there
for ages, though man could see them not? And for ages, too,
did not the wild flowers spring up, and bloom, and decay, in
many a fair and favoured spot of this beautiful Earth, where
there was none to admire their splendour, none to inhale their
sweetness? Then again, look at that marvellous kingdom of
minute animalculae, in number almost infinite, which only within
the last few years the microscope has revealed to our wondering
eyes. They swarm around us in the air, in the earth, in the
water ; millions of them would fit in the hollow of your hand ;
and the structure of each individual is just as perfect in its kind
as the structure of the elephant, or the lion, or even of man
himself. And they, too, we can hardly doubt, must have
flourished for centuries in countless myriads, unseen and un-
known by man. It is impossible for us, in our present imper-
fect state, to understand the motives of an All- wise Creator in
this profuse expenditure of His goodness, this lavish display of
His power. How then can we presume to say that He may not
have good reasons, too, though inscrutable to us, for peopling
this Earth with many tribes of plants and animals, through a
long cycle of ages, before it pleased Him to fit it up for the habi-
tation of man? "Who is he among men that can know the
counsel of God? or who can find out His designs? For the
judgments of mortal men are hesitating, and uncertain are our
thoughts. For the corruptible body is a load upon the soul, and
the earthly dwelling presseth down the mind that museth upon
many things. And hardly do we guess aright at things that are
upon earth : and with labour do we find the things that are be-
fore us. But the things that are in heaven who shall search
out?"1
It is sometimes objected that Moses could not have passed
over in complete silence such a long and eventful era in the
history of the world. Certainly not, we admit, if he professed
to write a complete history of the Earth and all its revolutions.
But this was not his purpose. Every book, whether sacred or
profane, must be examined and interpreted according to the end
for which it was designed. Now the end and scope of the
Book of Genesis was not to instruct mankind about the move-
ments of the heavenly bodies, or the physical changes of the
Earth's surface, or the laws which govern the material universe.
It was, first of all, to impress on the minds of the Jewish people
that this world of ours is the work of one only God, distinct
from all creatuies, and Himself the Creator of sun, and moon,
1 Wisfan, xi.
72 Geology and Revelation.
and stars, and of every other object which pagan nations were
wont to worship : and, in the next place, to set forth, briefly
and simply, the story of God's dealings with man in the first
ages of the human race. Whatever we may hold, therefore,
about the revolutions and changes of the Earth's Surface pre-
vious to the work of the Six Days, it is plain that the history
of these phenomena did not appertain to the object which the
Sacred writer had in view. Consequently, he cannot be said,
by the omission of these events, to lead his readers into error ;
he simply allows them to remain in ignorance. What it was his
purpose to tell, he tells truly : what did not belong to his pur-
pose, he passes by in silence.
But it is further argued that this long interval of time we
have been contending for, is incompatible with the use of the
copulative conjunction by which the several clauses of the nar-
rative are connected together. The Sacred text runs thus : — "In
the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. And
the Earth was waste and empty : and darkness was upon the face
of the deep ; and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters. And God said, Let there be light ; and there was light".
Is it possible, we are asked, to admit a period of indefinite
length between events thus closely linked together ? Our answer
is that, according to the idiom of the Hebrew language the con-
junction 1 or i (ve or wz), which is here employed, while it
serves to connect together the clauses of a narrative, does not of
necessity imply the immediate succession of the events recorded.
The very wide and indefinite signification which belongs to this
little particle is well known to all who are familiar with the
Hebrew text. It is sometimes copulative, sometimes adversa-
tive, sometimes disjunctive, sometimes causal. Very frequently
it is used simply for the purpose of con tinning the discourse? and
this we believe is the true force of the word in the passage under
discussion.
An example very much to the point occurs in the Book of
Numbers, twentieth chapter and first verse: — " And the chil-
dren of Israel, the whole congregation came into the desert of
Sin". Here the narrative opens with the connecting particle
W!g8*> ^r»? "*?!. And yet the reader will find
if he carefully examine the passage, that the event thus
introduced by the sacred writer was separated by a period of
eight-and-thirty years from those which had been related in the
1 See GeseniuB, Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the. Old Testament Scrip-
tures; in voce. He thus explains the first meaning of this word : " copulative, and
yes to connect both words and sentences, especially in continuing a dis-
courst ,
St. ^Engusius Hagiographus. 73
preceding chapter.1 This conjunction, therefore, does not ex-
clude an interval of eight-and-thirty years between the events
which it links together in history. And that being so, there is
no good reason for supposing that it should, of necessity, exclude
an interval of indefinite length.
Thus we have brought to a conclusion the first part of our
inquiry. We have endeavoured to show that there is nothing
in Scripture or Tradition which forbids us to admit a long in-
terval of time between the Creation of the world and the work
of the Six Days. Next in order we have to examine what was
the nature of these Six Days themselves.. Were they, as Saint
Augustine maintained, one single indivisible instant of time ?
or were they days of twenty-four hours, as is more commonly
supposed ? or were they simply periods of time of which the
duration is left wholly undetermined in the Sacred Text? This
will be the subject of our following paper.
THE LIFE AND WORKS OF ST. JENGUSIUS HAGIO-
GRAPHUS, OR ST. ^ENGUS THE CULDEE,
BISHOP AND ABBOT AT CLONENAGH AND DYSARTENOS, QUEEN'S
COUNTY.
(CONTINUED.)
THIS latter division concludes the work, and in it JEngus
recapitulates the subject of his Felirb, teaching the faithful how
to read and use it, and explaining its arrangement. He declares,
though great the number, he has only been able to enumerate
the princes of the saints in it. He recommends it for pious
meditation to the faithful, and indicates spiritual benefits to be
gained by reading or reciting it. He says, he had travelled far
and near to collect the names and history of subjects for his
praise and invocation. For the foreign saints, he consulted St.
Ambrose, St. Jerome, and Eusebius. He collected the festivals
of our Irish saints from " the countless hosts of the illuminated
books of Erinn". He then says, having already mentioned and
invoked the saints at their respective festival days, he will now
invoke them in classes or bands, under certain heads or leaders.
This is done in the following order : The elders or ancients,
1 See A Lapide on the text, who proves this opinion from intrinsic evidence;
and alleges, moreover, that it is the common opinion of interpreters.
74 The Life and Works of
under Noah; the prophets under Isaiah; the patriarchs under
Abraham ; the apostles and disciples under Peter ; the wise or
learned men under Paul; the martyrs under Stephen; the spiri-
tual directors under old Paul; the Virgins of the World under
the Blessed Virgin Mary; the holy bishops of Rome under
Peter; the bishops of Jerusalem under Jacob or James; the
bishops of Antioch also under Peter ; the bishops of Alexandria
under Mark ; a division of them under Honorati ; a division of
learned men under the gifted Benedict; all the innocents who
suffered at Bethlehem under Georgius; the priests under Aaron;
the monks under Anthony ; a division of the world's saints under
Martin ; the noble saints of Erinn under St. Patrick ; the saints
of Scotland under St. Colum Cille ; while the last great division
of Eriun's saintly virgins has been placed under holy St. Brigid
of Kildare. In an eloquent strain, Aengus then continues to
beseech our Saviour's mercy for himself and for all mankind,
through the merits and sufferings of those saints he has named
and enumerated. He asks through the merits of their dismem-
bered bodies ; through their bodies pierced with lances ; through
their wounds ; through their groans ; through their relics ; through
their blanched countenances ; through their bitter tears ; through
all the sacrifices offered of the Saviour's own Body and Blood,
as it is in Heaven, upon the holy altars ; through the blood that
flowed from the Saviour's own side ; through his sacred Humanity ;
and through His Divinity in union with the Holy Spirit and the
Heavenly Father. After this long invocation, Aengus says the
brethren of his order deemed all his prayers and petitions too
little ; whereupon, he resolves to change his course, that no one
may have cause for complaint. Then, he commences another
moving appeal to our Lord for himself and all men. He be-
seeches mercy according to the merciful worldly interposition of
Divine clemency in times past. Thus Enoch and Elias had
been saved from dangers in this world ; Noah had been saved
from the deluge ; Abraham had been saved from plagues and
from the Chaldeans ; Lot had been saved from the burning city ;
Jonas had escaped from the whale ; Isaac had been delivered
from his father's hands. He entreats Jesus, through inter-
cession of his Holy Mother, to save him, as Jacob was saved
from the hands of his brother, and as John [Paul] was saved
from the viper's venom. He again recurs to examples found
in the Old Testament He mentions the saving of David
from Goliath's sword ; the saving of Susanna from her dangers ;
of Nineveh from destruction; of the Israelites from Mount
Gilba [Gilboa] ; of Daniel from the lions' den ; of Moses from
the hands of Faro [Pharaoh] ; of the three youths from the
fiery furnace ; of Tobias from his blindness ; of Peter and Paul
St. dEngusim Hagiographus . 75
from the dungeon ; of Job from demoniac tribulations ; of David
from Saul ; of Joseph from his brothers' hands ; of the Israelites
from Egyptian bondage ; of Peter from the sea- waves ; of John
from the fiery caldron ; of Martin from the priest of the idol.
Again, he beseeches Jesus, through intercession of the Heavenly
household, to be saved, as St. Patrick had been, from the
poisoned drink at Teamhar [Tara], and as St Coemhghin
[Kevin] had been at Gleann da locha [Glendalough], from perils
of the mountain.1
St. Aengus, we are told, resided at his church, in a place called
Disert Bethech,2 which lay on the northern bank of the river
n-Eoir — now the Nore — and a few miles above the present Mon-
asterevan, in the Queen's County. This, however, must be an in-
correct topographical description of the locality. Aengus had
then just finished his Festology. A friendship was here
formed between our saint and Fothadh the canonist, who showed
the poem he had composed for Aedh's decision. Before pre-
senting it to the king, he desired and received the warm ap-
proval of his brother poet.3
It is said, Aengus Ceile De first published or circulated his
"Festology" that year when Aideus the Sixth, surnamed
Oirdnidhe, undertook his expedition against the Leinster people,
A.D. 804, according to the most correct supposition. At this
time, Aedh encamped at Disert Bethech. Fothadius, the Canonist,
accompanied him. This learned man is said to have received
a present of the Feilire, which had been first shown to him,
from our saint's hands. Fothadh solemnly approved and recom-
mended it for perusal by the faithful.4 Thus, it would appear,
that the poem had not been issued, until after the death of holy
Abbot Malruan, which took place A.D. 792, according to the
best computation.5 This fact appears still more evident, as in
the Festilogy, the name of Tallagh's venerable superior is
found recorded, with a suitable eulogy. Professor O'Curry says,
that according to the best accounts, Aengus wrote his poem in
or before A.D. 798 ; for, so far as can be ascertained, the name of
any saint, who died after such date, cannot be discovered in it.*
According to Colgan, Aengus had resolved upon commenc-
1 See Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History. Lect. xvii. pp. 365 to
3 We feel inclined to believe this place was not distinct from Dysart Enos.
3 See Ibid., p. 364.
4 See Ibid., p. 364-; also Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii. Vita
S. Aengussii, cap. xiii. p. 581.
3 Such is the correction of Mr. O'Donovan, although the Four Masters place
his death at A.D. 787. See O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i.
pp. 392, 393.
4 See Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History. Lect,
xvii. p. 362.
7tf The Life and Works of
ing another work, in which should be included the names of
saints, omitted in his Feilire, that thus any doubt regarding the
veneration due to them, and the intentional omission of their
names in his poem, might in a measure be obviated.
In conjunction with St. Molruan, it is said, he undertook the
compilation of another work, named usually Martyrologium
jEngussii filii Hua-Oblenii et Moelruanii, "the Martyrology of
JSngus and Molruan". It is sometimes known as Martyrologium
Tamlactense, " the Martyrology of Tallaght". This work, which
some consider prior to the Festilogium, in the order of being
composed, is prosaic and very comprehensive.1 For every day,
a list of foreign saints was first set down, and then followed the
names of our Irish saints. Colgan considers this work the most
copious of all the martyrologies he had ever seen.1 Yet, it would
seem to have been extremely defective, in parts. The names
1 In the summer of 1849, Mr. Eugene O'Curry and Dr. Todd examined the
MS. collections in the University of Oxford, for four days spent there; and
during their stay, so far as time permitted, they extracted various readings,
considered desirable and useful, from the Festilogiurn of .^Engus. These were
intended to further illustrate Mr. O'Curry's transcript of this poem. Amongst
other valuable documents, they discovered two fine copies of the Martyrologj
of JEngus the Culdee, and the Psalter-na-Rann, comprising five books on the
Irish Saints, by the same author. During this year, also, Mr. O'Curry spent
some months in the British Museum, London, having his transcribed copy of
the Festilogy with him. It appears now, that this work was inaccurately noticed
by Edward O'Reilly in his " Irish Writers", at the year 800 ; by Dr. O'Connor,
in his " Stowe Catalogue", page 30, note 3 ; and in Harris's Ware " Irish
Writers", page 53. The Irish Archaeological Society has announced the inten-
tion of supplying a desideratum long felt in native literature, by publishing at
a future period " The Hagiographical Works of St. JEngus the Culdee". We
fear, however, an indefinite postponement.
1 This opinion he must have entertained, however, before the OClerys had
prepared the celebrated one, now popularly known as " The Martyrolpgy of
Donegall". See Acta Sanctorum Hibernice, xi. Martii. Vita S. jEengussii, cap.
xii. p. 581. At note 10, affixed to this passage we find the following interesting
statement. Father Heribert Roswede, a man deeply versed in ecclesiastical
antiquities, had received from the Carthusians at Treves, or Triers, in Germany,
a certain very ancient codex, belonging to St. Willebrord's Monastery at Epter-
nac, in Triers diocese, and in the duchy of Luxemburg. It contained an ex-
ceedingly old and most complete Martyrology. This included names of many
saints for each day, not found in the Martyrologium Momanum, or in any other
Martyrology hitherto edited. He thought this was the Martyrology of St
Jerome, and that it should have been thus designated, owing to the prefixed
title: Christefavevotis. Codex S. Wille.br or d i contine t Martyrologium Hieronymi.
Whether this had been the Martyrology ascribed to St. Jerome, or to St
Eusebius, or to St. Willebrord, in most particulars, Colgan says, it agreed with
the Martyrology of St. Jingus, or with the Martyrology of Tallagh. Only, in
this latter, those places where the Martyrs suffered were more accurately noted,
and it had the advantage of being more copious. The Martyrology of Tal-
lagh has also added at each day certain Irish saints, and frequently some other
saints, wanting in the Epternac copy. Two reasons incline Colgan to believe
that St. Willebrord brought that Martyrology— which is known as Coder S.
Wilebrordi or Epternacensi— with him, when he left Ireland on his way to Ep-
ternac. First, two copies had been preserved in Colgan's time, although differ-
ing somewhat in certain places. These belonged to Ireland. One of them had
St. sSEngusius ITagiographus. 77
of many saints, omitted in the Roman and other martyrologies,
are to be found in the first part of the Martyrology attributed
to ^En^us and Molruan. However, a learned authority supposes,
that jJEngus composed a still more ancient Marty rology, which
deserves to bear his name, and that this is the oldest Irish Martyr-
ology known.1 As ^Engus, in his metrical work, " The Festilo-
gium", cites the martyrologies attributed to Jerome and Eusebius,
it is highly probable, that he must have used these works, now
supposed to be lost, while engaged at the compilation of his own
writings.2 Nay more, might it not be possible, that the first part
been transmitted to Louvain. It was written on old vellum, but it was not
found in a perfect state. Each day, the other copy had been expected " ex quo
Sanctos Hiberniae jam excerptos accepimus". No other copy of this work was
known to be extant in any of the European libraries, that only excepted which
belonged to the collection of Epernac MSS. Secondly, one of these copies
seems to have its authenticity proved correlatively with the other. For St.
Willebrord, whose Codex has his name inscribed, and whose very handwriting
can be traced in part, with every appearance of certain proof, did not come
from Anglia— as some writers say — but he came from Hibernia immediately
to Friesland or Frisia, and thence to Epternac. Willebrord had previously
lived in Ireland, from the twentieth to the thirty-third year of his age, engaged
in scholastic studies and in practices of piety, as Alovinus Flaccus states in his
Life, and as Venerable Bede has it in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglo-
rum, Lib. v. cap. 10, 11, and 12. For the truth of these statements, Colgan
cites other authorities, in the Life of St. Suithbert, at the first day of March.
It is not at all probable, that Willebrord found the aforesaid Martyrology in
the territory of Frisia, or in other adjoining districts, in a great measure in-
habited only by unbelievers. Nor has any similar copy been there discovered.
On the contrary, Colgan asserts that many such copies were to be found in
Ireland when he wrote. As here mentioned, in the Life of St. JEngus, the
Martyrologies, ascribed both to Eusebius and to St. Jerome, were extant in his
time, or before A.D. 787, when such testimony is supposed to have been recorded.
These martyrologies are considered to be oldest compilations of the kind. Sea
Ibid., p. 582.
1 See Professor Eugene O'Curry's Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of
Ancient Irish History, Lect. xvii. pp. 362, 363, 364. Yet, in Father Michael
O'Clery's preface to a poem of Marianus Gorman, he states, that the Martyr-
ology of JEngus Ceile De had been composed from the Martyrology of Tam-
lacht. In this latter, the names and dates for two holy men are found, and
both died many years after ^Engus himself. " These are Biathmac, the son of
Flann, monarch of Erinn, who died for the faith, at the hands af the Danes, in
the island of Hi, or lona, on the 19th of July, in the year 823; and b'ddhli-
midh Mac Critnhthainn, King of Munster, who died on the 18th of August, in
the year 845, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, but whose festival
is placed in the kalendar at the 28th of August". It is supposed, according to
the best accounts, that ,<Engus wrote his work in or before A.D. 798, and so far
as Mr. O'Curry ascertained, " no saint is found in it who died after that year".
Wherefore, it would appear, that l^t. ^Engus composed a Martyrology, distinct
from that known as the Tallagh Martyrology. However, it seems to be the
case, this Martyrology of St. ^Engus must have been identical with his Festi-
logy.
* It must be remarked that D' Achery, in his Spicilegium, sive Collectio Veterum
aliquot Scriptorum, has published " Martyrologium vetustissimum Sancti Hiero-
nymi Presbyteri nomine insignitum". Tomus Quartus. This is even imperfect,
since he appends the following remarks :— " Caetera legi non potuerunt in MS. ut-
pote a tineis corrosa ; silicet ab hac die ad viii Kal. Jan. a quo incipit hocce Marty-
rologium". It must be confessed, if this Martyrology, for the most part, were
3 The Life and Works of
of this Martyrology is, to some extent, a transcript from that
ascribed to Eusebius or to Jerome ? And what delight and inte-
rest would not the lovers of ecclesiastical history take in the dis-
covery of such identity, could it only be proved ! If a conjec-
ture of this kind should be well founded, the writings so much
regretted by the learned as lost, because not hitherto discovered,
might in part — if not altogether — be found among unpublished
MSS. of an Irish saint, yet mouldering on the shelves of some
Irish or continental library. In the latter supposition, probably
it may be established that such Martyrology had been carried
from our island to its present place of preservation.
We feel inclined to believe, that the Martyrology of Tallagh
had been written— but perhaps not in its completed state — be-
fore Jingus had composed his Felire. Nor does it follow,
because Blathmac, who had been martyred for the faith at lona
on the 19th July, A.D. 823, and Feidhlimidh Mac Crimhthainn,
King of Munster, who died on the 18th of August, A.D. 845,
have been entered in it, that these names had not been intro-
duced in copies, transcribed after the death of .^Engus.1 As we
are not likely ever to recover the original copy of the Tallagh
Martyrology, criticism must remain at fault, in reference to its
real author or authors.
We find a more accurate description of what has been called
the Hieronymain Tallagh Martyology, than had been furnished
.2 This
either by Colgan or Bollandus.2 This comes from the pen of
Father John Baptist Soller.* It does not appear that Bollandus
had ever seen Colgan's copy; but Soller, however, inspected
and describes it as containing ten vellum folia of large size, with
nearly half a leaf, and covered with another leaf of similar mate-
rial and appearance. In the commencement of this Codex, some
modern hand has inscribed it, Martyrologium Tamlactense, et
Opuscula S. A engussi Keledei. In two different places it is noted,
as having belonged to the convent of Donegall. Those leaves
written by St. Jerome, it has been interpolated by some one, who lived since
his time, as the names of many among the more recent saints are contained in
it. See the remarks of Henry Valeisius, in his Appendix to the edition of
Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, on this subject. The edition of the Martyr-
ology of Tallaght, published by the Rev. Dr. Kelly, must have been prepared
from a copy, differing from that more complete one, described by Colgan ; since
it only contains the names of Irish, and omits the list of foreign saints.
1 Mr. O'Curry, from circumstances already alluded to, seems to doubt if
^Engus had anything to do with its authorship. See Lectures on the Manuscript
Materials of Ancient Irish History, Lect. xvii. p. 362.
1 Bollandus has published some extracts from Colgan's copy, " sub nomine
Martyrologia Hieronymiani Tamlactensis", at the last days of the January
month in his A eta Sanctorum.
* See Acta Sanctorum Junii, tomus vi., in his learned Preface to a new edition
of Usuard's Martyrology. In this he treats regarding various copies of the
Martyrology ascribed to S*. Jerome, cap. 1, art. 1, §§ 1, 2.
St. <&ngusins Hagiographus. 79
were not clearly traced nor well arranged. Many names in
this Codex were almost illegible. It was defective from iv of
the Kalends of February to the iv of the Ides of March; so that
the months of January and March were not perfect. The whole
of February was missing. The April month was alone com-
plete. May ran on to the 20th day, or to the xiii of the Ka-
lends of June. June and July were wanting. August began
from the iv Nones, but its remaining days were preserved. In
September were missing the'xii, xi, and x days of the October
Kalends. October continued to the iii of the Kalends of No-
vember. The whole of November was missing. December
commenced only at xv of the Kalends of January. Soller de-
clares, after a diligent examination, he could easily observe that
this Codex had been over-rated by the members of his society.
Papebroke had frequently mentioned to him that Colgan or the
Irish Minorite Fathers at Louvain had merely sent extracts of
this copy to Bollandus. Besides the insertion of Irish proper
names in this Martyrology, there were found other festivals,
added by a comparatively modern hand. Among these, he no-
tices the feast of St. Joseph, the Revelation of St. Michael the
Archangel, the festival of All Saints, and many other solemni-
ties of a like description. After this Martyrology, Soller found
a list of what he conjectures to be Irish names, running through
three leaves. In fine, there were opuscula or fragments of tracts
in the Irish language, of which he was entirely ignorant. This
Soller declares to be a complete description of the Codex.1
Of the Martyrology, attributed to JEngus and Molruan, Colgan
appears to have possessed two copies. Even these were not
entire. The names of saints are simply set down in this work,
which, for stated reasons, he preferred calling the Martyrology
of Tallagh or Tamlacht. In the first place, it had been com-
posed by joint labour on the part of ^Engus and Molruan, at
Tallagh. Secondly, because it could not be cited as the work of
both saints, without tediousness and confusion; the more so, as
he had been obliged frequently to quote another Martyrology,
the sole production of ^Engus. Thirdly, because it is reasonably
conjectured, that ancient writers called it the Martyrology of
Tamlacht. Thus, Marianus Gorman, who lived more than five
hundred years before Colgan's time, in the preface to his Martyr-
ology remarks, that St. JEngus composed his metrical Festilogy,
from the Martyrology of Tamlacht, which had previously been
written. The latter work, therefore, was supposed to differ in
no respect from the Martyrology of JEngus and Melruan, which
had been composed at Tallaght. There was no other Martyr-
1 See ibid., § 2, p. vil.
80 The Life and Works of
ology known to be extant in Colgan's time, and that could
better deserve the title of the Tallagh Martyrolpgy, or which,
in fact, was distinguished by this latter appellation. Fourthly,
the work entitled, " Martyrology of jEngus and Moelruan", con-
tains the names of its reputed authors and other saints, who
were their contemporaries, but who departed this life after their
time. Among others, we find recorded therein the name, St.
Corpre, Bishop of Clonmacnoise, who died A.D. 899 ; but we do
not find the name of St. Cormac Mac Cuileannan, king and
bishop, who departed this life in the earlier part of the tenth
century, nor, in fact, of any saint, who died after A.D. 900.
Hence, Colgan is under an impression, that certain subsequent
additions were made to the joint work of JEngus and Melruan,
by some monk belonging to the monastery of Tallagh, who lived
towards the close of the ninth, and who died in the beginning of
the tenth century.1
An opinion was entertained by some ancient writers, that
this Martyrology and the Feilire had been composed by -3£n-
gus at Tallaght, whilst engaged in following the humbler
duties of a farm servant. Sufficient evidence can be adduced,
however, to prove, that the Feilire could not have been issued
until some years after St. Melruan's death. The title prefixed
to the Martyrology is couched in those terms: " Incipit Mar-
tyrologium ^ngussii, filii Hua-oblenii et Melruanii". It
shows, that both saints must have been joint labourers at the
work, previous to the death of Melruan, in the year 792,
although some additions were undoubtedly made in the succeed-
ing century. Wherefore, Marianus Gorman, in the preface
to his Martyrology, has rightly observed, in Colgan's opinion,
that St. ^Engus took the saints, named in his Festilogy, from
the Martyrology of Tallagh, which had been first composed.2
1 Colgan's Ada Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii. Vita S. JZngussii, cap, xii.
p. 581. In Harris' Ware, a similar opinion has been adopted. See vol. iii.
Wnlm of Ireland, book i. chap. v. p. 52.
2 See Colgan's Ada Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii. Vita S. ^Engussii, cap.
atiii. p. 681. Dr. Ledwich strives to show, that this Martyrology was first
written in the ninth century, because it has the names of Moelruan,
Aengus, and other later saints. See Antiquities of Ireland, p. 365. " It is
true that, considered in its present state", says L)r. Lanigan, "it was not
completed until even the end of that century; but does it follow that
Aengus and Moelruan had no share in drawing it up ? He adds, that in its
econd preface, it cites the Martyrology of St. Jerome. Here the doctor is
wrong; for this martyrology is quoted, not in any prefaqe to the Martyrology
lallagh, alias that of Aengus and Moelruan, but in the second preface to
the *est,logium of Aengus (See A A. Sti. p. 581). He then tells us that th_
irtyrology called of St. Jtrome, was not known until about the ninth cen-
ury ; but might not about the ninth century, be implied to take in part of the
nth, prior to Aengus having been engaged in any of these works ? The
octor 8«ys that Launoy has proved, that this martyrology was fabricated
St. jffingusius Hagiographus. 81
Mr. O'Curry appears to attribute this preface to the pen of
Father Michael O'Clery. The Martyrology of Tallagh is ge-
nerally believed to be the oldest Martyrology of our Irish saints
known to be extant; and with their festival days it often
records the immediate fathers and churches of our national
saints. The Martyrology of Tallagh has been published by
the late Rev. Professor Matthew Kelly, D.D., of Maynooth
College. In the year 1847, he procured a copy, partially de-
fective, from the Burgundian Library at Brussels, and this he
published in 1857, just before his lamented death. Its defects
have been supplied, in parts, from other Irish Martyrologies. It
contains valuable historic notes and additions.1 However, it is
to be regretted, that the learned editor had not been able to
obtain a more complete — yet still deficient — copy for publica-
tion, which Colgan had once procured. Indeed, a number of
similar copies, had they been available, must have greatly en-
hanced the value and accuracy of such an interesting work.
about the ninth century. Now in the passage, which he refers to, Launoy
has not even attempted to prove it ; and all that he says, is that the martyro-
logy called of St. Jerome cannot be proved to have been written by that saint
on any authority prior to the reign of Charlemagne. But the Doctor cares
nothing about inaccuracies and misquotations, provided he could make the
reader believe, that martyrologies are not to be depended upon. Yet Launoy
was, in the little he has said, mistaken; for the martyrology ascribed to St.
Jerome, or rather to Eusebius and St. Jerome, as quoted by Aengus, is men-
tioned more than once by Bede, who lived many years before Charlemagne.
Thus he cites (L. 2, in Marcum, cap. 26) Martyr -ologium Eusebii et Hieronymi
vocabulis insignitum ; and (Retract, in Act. Ap. cap. i.) he states, that Eusebius is
said to have been the author, and Jerome the translator (See more in Bollan-
dus' General Preface, cap. 4. § 4. at 1 January). That Eusebius compiled a sort
of Martyrology is considered certain (t&., cap. i. § 3); and the learned Bollandists,
Henschenius and Papebrochius (Prolog, ad Martyrol Bed. at March, Tom. 2)
were inclined to think, that it was not only translated, but likewise augmented
by St. Jerome. Be this as it may, it is well known, that what is now called
the Martyrology of St. Jerome was not written by him ; but, it is supposed to
have been originally compiled, not long after his time, and is considered by
many very learned men to be the oldest extant. D'Achery has published it
(Spicileg. Tom. 4), and in his Monitum states from Henry Valois, that it was used
by Gregory the Great, and existed many years earlier. Since those times
some names have been added to it, such as that of Gregory himself, which
D'Achery has marked in Italics. Among these is that of St. Patrick, and
perhaps the Doctor had heard so, on which account he wished to deny its anti-
quity. Much more might be said on this subject, were this the place for
doing so. Meanwhile the reader may consult also Tillemont, Hist. Eccl. torn.
xii. at St. Jerome, art. 144. See Dr. Lanigaa's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland,
vol. iii. chap. xx. § x. n. 102, pp. 249, 250.
1 In 1849, the Rev, Dr. Todd likewise procured from the Belgian govern-
ment the loan of a MS. containing this, as well as O'Gorman's and Aengus'
Martyrologies, all in Father Michael O'Clery's handwriting. Professor O'Curry
made accurate transcripts from it, for Dr. Todd's private library. See Lec-
ture* on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History, Lect. xvii. pp. 862,
363.
VOL. V.
THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH QUESTION.
THE question of the Established Church has^ at the present day,
become the main question of British policy in this island, and
all true friends of Ireland are anxiously looking forward to the
approaching parliament, when it is hoped that at length this pe-
rennial source of discord and of every evil will be removed. We
have more than once treated of the question in preceding numbers :
to-day our remarks shall be limited to some few arguments1 which
are continually put forward on the Protestant platform in support
of the Establishment in this kingdom.
1. In the first place it is said that the Protestant Church has
fulfilled her mission, and hence the State should not violate its
contract by her disestablishment and disendowment.
2. Secondly, it is stated that to disestablish the Irish Church
is the same as to bring it to utter ruin.
3. By such an act the coronation oath would be violated : and
4. The rights of property and the Act of Union would be
invaded and most unjustly assailed.
We will briefly examine these, the leading arguments, that
are advanced by the champions of the Protestant cause in de-
fence of the Established Church.
1. In the first place, then, we are told, that the Protestant
Chuch has fulfilled the mission that was given her by the State,
and therefore the State should not violate its compact by with-
drawing from her its endowments and dignities. It is not easy,
however, to find out in what this mission of the Established
Church consists. The Duke of Marlborough thus briefly stated
his views on the subject:
" Has not the Church fultilled its objects ? It ministers to its OAVTI
Protestant congregations, which are very considerable in number,'
and also to many of the Protestant dissenters : and, if so, I am at a
loss to know why it has not fulfilled its duties" (Debate on the Sus-
pensory Bill, June 26th, 1868).
The Bishop of Lichfield's view is somewhat different :
"My belief is", he says, "that the mission of the Church in the
sister kingdom of Ireland was to support a great principle of patriot-
ism and loyalty, and that it has done from the time of the establish-
ment down to the present" (Convocation, July 1st, 1868).
'See on these arguments the excellent pamphlet just published, Is there not
Ji n*f,^aJeUerto r°lonel Greville- Nugent, M.P., by the Rev. Malcolm
cColl, M.A., Chaplain to his Excellency the Lord Napier, etc.
Tlie Established Church Question. 83
The Archbishop of York's words are still more remarkable :
" The noble lord opposite", he said, " talked of the Irish Church,
and said that it had failed in its original design. What was that
original design ? It was never intended as a Church of the majority.
It was designed as a mark of the disapproval of the Crown and the
rulers of the country of the Roman Catholic religion. It went along
with most oppressive measures, and it was, if you like, the outset of
these oppressive measures : but it was part of a whole system. . . It
was originally meant as part of a system by which we expressed our
belief that the Roman Catholic religion was a foreign thing, a thing
hostile to civil government, and a thing untrue".
All these theories, however, are far under the mark of what
the Established Church in Ireland claims for herself. She asserts
her mission to bring the natives of Ireland within the Protes-
tant pale, and to illumine their benighted minds with the rays of
Gospel truth. Dr. Trench in his late charge to the clergy of the
provinces of Dublin and Cashel defends at great length this
mission of the Established Church ; and in reply to those who
accuse her of having failed to attain that end, he replies, first,
that the English Church has equally failed in her mission;1
and secondly, that were it not for the Protestants who were
massacred in 1641, the Established Church would now be in a
most flourishing condition in this country. His words upon this
latter point are so peculiar that we must record them here in
full:
" All contemporary records consent" (he thus writes) " in describ-
ing the nourishing condition of Ireland, the rapid advances which it
was making in civilization, in wealth, and above all, which our Re-
formed Church was making, when all this prosperity, spiritual and
temporal, was by a hideous catastrophe interrupted and brought sud-
denly to an end. The Irish rebellion of 1641 was nothing short of
a tearing up by the roots, a trampling as in blood and mire, of all
which a century had accomplished It would ill become me
to revive ill-omened memories ; but when we are taunted with our
fewness, one cannot help remembering that a number, which those
1 "It is often put forward as a justification of this attempt to put us out of
the way, that we have failed in our mission. It would be very ungracious
upon our part, after the noble readiness with which English churchmen have
fastened to our aid, to ask whether very much the same might not be affirmed
of every Church under the sun ; but we are saved from any embarrassment
upon this score by the generous coming forward of English churchmen them-
selves, who have claimed that this which is charged against us might also be
charged against them ; who have asked whether their own Church has pre-
vented the growth of Nonconformity, whether a huge frightful heathenism
has not grown up at their very doors, so that it can be shown by proof only
too clear that of the population of the great cities of England, I am afraid to say
how vast a proportion never enter the doors of any place of worship whatever.
But who proceeds to argue from this that the Church of England ought to be
abolished?"— Charge, etc., pag. 48.
•g4 The Established Church Question.
who make the most moderate estimate have estimated at nearly forty
thousand, and which, according to the rate of the increase of the
population in Ireland, would now have quadrupled or quintupled,
perished then" (Charge, pag. 51).
From all this it would result that the leading supporters of the
Established Church in this country have not any definite idea as
to the mission which that Church has fulfilled. If its only object
is to minister to the scattered Protestants, it is too expensive a
ministration; for, as Hallam remarks, it has at all times been "a
government without snbjects, a college of shepherds without
sheep" (Const. Hist, ii. 529). Moreover, we are told that the
Protestants have all the wealth and property of the country ;
and surely, then, it is not too much to expect that they should
support their own clergy, and that our Catholic people should
not be forced to contribute to the maintenance of those whose
ministrations they reject.
The Established Church is also a very expensive way for
recording a protest against Popery, and the statesmen of the
present day will, with little difficulty, be able to devise some
other system of protest less costly to the nation and more con-
genial to the feelings of our age. But, at all events, why should
the Catholics of Ireland be compelled to contribute to such an
Establishment, and thus offer insult to the religion which is so
dear to them ? We cannot but cite on this head the words of
Rev. Mr. MacColl:
" As a mark of disapproval of the religion of the Irish nation, it
is a gratuitous insult and a politieal blunder of the first magnitude ;
and I will go so far as to say that the Irish people ought not to be
loyal to England while they are thus affronted and outraged in the
tenderest and holiest feelings of the^human heart" (pag. 75).
The truth, however, is, that the Established Church was
planted in this country for the purpose of " rooting out Popery".
The first Protestant agents openly avowed this mission, but it
has egregiously failed. The Protestant Church first wielded the
sword to propagate its tenets in Ireland, and yet all the efforts of
persecution were unavailing to attain that end. New machinery
of proselytism in every shape was tried from time to time, yet
all was in vain, and at the present day the proportion of the
Protestant community to the whole population is less than it was
two centuries ago :
" Protestantism" (says Dr. Brady) «' so far from making progress in
Ireland, has actually lost ground, and failed to maintain the relative
position towards Romanism which it once occupied. For, although
the Protestants in 1672 numbered 300,000, and the Roman Catholics
800,000, according to the enurneratioiKQf Sir W. Petty, at the last
The Established Church Question. 85
census in 1861 there were found in Ireland only 1,293,702 of Pro-
testants of all denominations to 4,505,265 of Koman Catholics. So
that within a period of 192 years there has been a relative decrease
of Protestants, compared with Roman Catholics, amounting to the
large number of 395,772 persons".
But Dr, Trench assures us that matters would not have been
so bad were it not for the disastrous massacre of 1641. On this
singular statement we will make but a few remarks. In the
first place, the decrease of Protestants as compared with Roman
Catholics has been shown from Petty's survey, which was not
made till 1672, that is, long after the pretended massacre of the
Irish Protestants. From that date, at least, there has been no
massacre; on the contrary, ^favours and privileges have been
year after year lavished on the Established Church, whilst the
Roman Catholics were subjected to every persecution which a
malignant ingenuity could devise ; still Protestantism has failed
to take root, and has shown at each new stage of our history
ever increasing symptoms of decay. A few instances brought
before parliament some years ago will suffice to illustrate this
point. The number of Protestant families in the county Kil-
kenny in the year 1731 was 1,055, whilst the total population
was little more than 8,000 families; well, in 1800 the total
population had increased to 20,000 families, and yet the Pro-
testant families at that time had dwindled down to 941. In
Armagh, as we learn from Stewart's History, the Protestants
sixty years ago were as two to one of the population ; now they
are only as one to three. In Tullamore in 1731, there were 64
Protestants to 613 Catholics; in 1818, as appears from Mason's
survey, the Protestants had decreased to five, whilst the Ca-
tholics had augmented to 2455. Official returns were made in
1834, and though in the interval four millions of Catholics have
been swept away by famine and emigration, the Established
Church has failed to better its condition. According to the census
of 1861, there were still 199 parishes in Ireland without a single
member of the Established Church; in 1834 there were 456
parishes with not more than twenty Protestants; and in 1861
vthis class of parishes had increased to 575. In 1834 the number
of parishes having more than twenty and not more than fifty
Protestants was 382 ; whilst in 1861 it was 416. These examples
must surely suffice to convince Dr. Trench that the decay of Pro-
testantism is owing to some other cause than the massacre of 1641.
In the second place, Dr. Trench is in error when he states that
at the most moderate estimate, 40,000 of the Protestants were
massacred in 1641. Dr. Lingard has clearly proved that the
Protestant massacre was nothing more than a tale of fancy de-
vised by the London agitators of the day to strengthen their
36 The Established Church Question.
opposition against their sovereign. The Protestant historian,
Warner, who is followed by Hallam, " thinks twelve thousand
lives of Protestants the utmost that can be allowed for the
direct or indirect effects of the rebellion", and he adds that " of
these only one-third can be referred to murder" (History of
Irish Rebellion, pag. 397) ; and yet Warner assures us that this
estimate was based on the examination of witnesses taken before
the commission of 1643. What, then, becomes of the most
moderate estimate of Archbishop Trench? Moreover no account
is taken of the massacres which were perpetrated on the Catho-
lics of Ireland. The whole Cromwellian era was little less than
one continuous massacre. Sir W. Petty calculates that above
500,000 Irish Catholics perished by the sword or were driven
into banishment between the years 1641 and 1652. Prender-
gast's Cromwellian Settlement has more than proved the accu-
racy of this statement in all its details. And yet the persecution
of the Cromwellian era may be said to have been perpetuated
with unabated fury for more than one hundred and fifty years.
Whilst, therefore, we readily admit with Dr. Trench that the
Established Church in England has failed in her mission, we are
compelled, by the plain evidence of facts, to assert that the
Established Church has also proved a failure in this country :
though watered and cared, it bears no fruit: why, therefore,
* encumbereth it the ground' ?
2. The next argument adduced in support of the Establish-
ment is, that to disestablish the Irish Church is the same thing
as to destroy it outright. The Lord Chancellor Cairns ex-
pressly declared that the Bill before Parliament was equivalent
to a decree that " the Irish Church is to cease". The Protestant
Archbishop of Armagh also made the same important admission :
" If you disestablish the Irish Church", he said, "you will put
before the Irish Protestants the choice between apostacy and
expatriation, and every man among them who has money or
position, when he sees his church go, will leave the country,
thus weakening the dominion of England over it". The Bishop
of London was equally explicit : " What you are going to do is
this, to hand over Ireland altogether to the Roman Catholic
Church".
Thus, then, in grave and deliberate argument the supporters
of the Established Church proclaim to the world, that if deprived
of the pomp and dignities of the state, their church must cease
to exist. In other words, it has no existence of its own, but
like the galvanised corpse of story, will instantly collapse and
show itself — what indeed it always has been — a dead body, in
spite of outward appearances. If this indictment against the
Irish Church be true, and it would be impossible to summon
The Established Church Question. 87
witnesses more eminent or more partial than those who prefer
it, it is no longer a question of disestablishing a church, but of
interring a church which has already ceased to exist. The
sooner this operation takes place the better. The statement of
the champions of the Establishment is equivalent to the ad-
mission that the Catholic Church alone is quickened by a divine
life, whilst the Protestant Church is nothing more than a sickly
exotic of this world, which must wither and die the instant it
is removed from the government hot-house and exposed to the
fresh breezes of heaven.
3. It is also gravely asserted that the Coronation Oath would be
violated by giving assent to Mr. Gladstone \ Suspensory Bill.
But did the Coronation Oath stand in the way of King William,
of " great, glorious, and immortal memory", when he disendowed
and disestablished the Scottish Church ? And in our own times
did it stand in the way of the Canadian Clergy Reserves Bill, or
of the Jamaica Suspensory Bill? The Coronation Oath was
raised as a bugbear against Lord Derby himself in 1833, and
yet it did not deter him from counselling to his sovereign the
suppression of ten of those very sees which the king had sworn
to preserve. It is folly indeed and wickedness to put the Coro-
nation Oath in opposition to parliament when asking by its
enactments to promote the interests of the empire : and no matter
what may be the rights and privileges which the Coronation
Oath guarantees to the Established Church, it expressly guaran-
tees them only so long as " such rights and privileges by law
shall appertain to them" (oath taken by her Majesty, 20th No-
vember, 1837). Parliament is resolved to cut away " such rights
and privileges" as an incumbrance to the nation, and thus her
Majesty is freed from the duty of maintaining such privileges,
for they no longer appertain by law to the favoured church of
the realm.
The example we have given from Scottish history is one that
the supporters of the Irish Established Chuch would do well to
keep in mind when treating of this subject. William the Third
found the Protestant Episcopal Church established in Scotland :
he found at the same time that the clergy of that establishment
had scruples about acknowledging him as their lawful sovereign.
What therefore did he do ? He disestablished and disendowed that
Episcopal Church, and he transferred all its endowments and
possessions to the Presbyterians. No respect was even shown to
vested interests, and the clergy of the Established Church were
turned out of their benefices with every circumstance of indig-
nity, and in the middle of an inclement winter were left with
their families to beg or starve. And yet that Established Church
at the time of its ejectment, reckoned among its members a clear
88 The Establisfied Church Question.
majority of the Scottish, nation. It is thus that a contemporary
writer assures us: " It must be observed that when Presbyterian-
ism was established in Scotland at the time of the Revolution,
more than two-thirds of the people of the country and most of the
gentry were Episcopate" (Autobiography of Rev. Dr. A. Carlyle,
pag. 249). The liberal statesmen of the present day do not ask
to treat the ministers of the Established Church with such
severity, and yet they cannot claim to represent two- thirds of the
Irish nation.
4. The Conservatives again appeal to the rights of property
which are endangered by the disendowment of the Protestant
Church. But according to British law property has its duties as
uell as its rights. Were any nobleman of the land to violate
the law and become traitor to his sovereign, his estates would be
forfeited, all pretended rights of possession and inheritance not-
withstanding. And so too is it with the corporate bodies of this
realm. The East India Company appealed to the rights of pro-
perty in self-defence, and yet this appeal did not prevent the
parliament of the day from setting that company aside and vest-
ing its power and patronage in a state minister in London.
Such is the principle which has ever guided the British legisla-
ture : possession ceases to be respected when it imperils the peace
and prosperity of the State. And how then can the rights of
property be appealed to in support of an institution whose first
foundation was a gigantic wrong, and whose presence amongst
us has ever, like the upas tree, blighted the prosperity and ex-
hausted the resources of the country? Even in 1833, the rights
of property were appealed to, and yet the present Lord Derby
then contemptuously dismissed that argument by the remark
that " what was called Church property was in reality the pro-
perty of the nation" (Hansard, xvii. 983, 985).
But it is urged that the old Irish parliament sanctioned the
articles of Union, one of which declares that the Protestant
Establishment shall be maintained inviolate. This is very true.
But did not that same parliament sanction the penal laws ? and
yet the penal laws have been repealed. That parliament did not
represent the Catholics of Ireland; for, the Roman Catholics
were disfranchised, and had no voice in the legislature of the
country. Nay more, it was in violation of the laws of the
British constitution that such a parliament forced the Established
Church upon the kingdom, and decreed to it taxes and tithes
from our^Catholic people: for the fundamental axiom of British
law, as laid down by Blackstone, is, that " no subject of England
can be constrained to pay any aids or taxes even for the defence
of the realm, or the support of the government, but such as are
imposed by his own consent or that of his representative in par.
The Established Church Question. 89
liament". Now these taxes were imposed, and the Establishment
was sanctioned when Irish Catholics were treated as helots, and
allowed no voice in the so-called Irish Parliament. It cannot
therefore be maintained that it is unconstitutional to repeal the
fifth article of Union, when that very article was enacted in
violation of the constitution of the kingdom.
Moreover, if the arguments had any force, they should indeed
deter the present ministers of the crown from sanctioning the
Report of the Royal Commissioners and carrying into effect the
projected spoliation of so many districts and so many sees. It is
vain for these ministers to plead that they do not seek to weaken
but to strengthen ; that they do not wish to destroy but to reform
their Church. The suppression of Protestant bishoprics and bene-
fices is no doubt a blessing to this country, but it is equally certain
that the more the Irish Church is thus reformed, the more indefen-
sible does the Establishment become. The more its bishoprics are
suppressed, and its deaneries are abrogated, and its benefices are
amalgamated, the stronger is the proof that the Protestant Church
is not the Church of the Irish Nation, and the anomaly be-
comes more patent of upholding it as an Establishment in this
Catholic country. Thirty years ago ten bishoprics were destroyed ;
did the Protestant Church thereby strengthen its claim to be the
Church of Ireland ? Certainly no one in his senses will say it
did. And so when the Royal Commission now tells us that
three or four more bishoprics may be cancelled, and that as many
deans and parsons as you please may be removed, it only justi-
fies more and more the statement of the liberal ministers, that the
Established Church is a misnomer in this country, and has no
root in the religion and sympathies of our people.
LITURGICAL QUESTIONS.
WE have received very many communications on rubrical
matters during the past month, and are obliged to hold over
several questions till our next number. For the present we
select the following: —
1. Can a parish priest who duplicates on Sundays and holidays,
accept an honorarium for either Mass ?
2. Would a parish priest in Ireland fulfil his obligations on a
retrenched holiday by saying Mass for his people in his own
house, or at a station-house, or in a private house within the
parish; and if absent from his parish, must he appoint another
to offer Mass within the parish ?
3. In what Masses for the dead should only one prayer be said ;
and when there are many prayers, in what order should they
be recited ?
4. In the Missa quotidiana for the dead, what epistle and gospel
should be used, and should the Dies irae be recited ?
5. In the solemn Mass for the dead, is it sufficient after the
epistle to chaunt the Dies irae, or should the gradual and
tract be also sung?
To these important questions we reply as follows :— *
1. As regards the first question, it is certain that the parochus
as a rule cannot accept an honorarium for either Mass. He is not,
indeed, obliged to apply more than one Mass for his flock, and
he is free to offer the other Mass for any pious purpose he pleases ;
but except in special cases there is a strict prohibition to accept
an honorarium for either Mass. The Bishop of Cambray proposed
this question in 1858, and the Sacred Congregation replied:
*' Parochus non tenetur utramque Missam pro populo sibi com-
misso applicare, firma prohibitione recipiendi eleemosynam pro
secunda missa" (S. C. Cone, in Cameracensi, 25 Septemb. 1858.)
This was repeated in a response to the Bishop of Salamanca, on
the 22nd February, 1 862, and when the doubt arose whether the
parish priest might receive an honorarium for the first Mass, whilst
he applied the second Mass for his flock, a subsequent decree
explained that by the phrase secunda Missa, in the above deci-
sion, was meant the additional Mass which was celebrated by the
parochus, besides that which he was obliged to apply for his
flock.
But whilst such is the rule, based on the general law of the
Liturgical Questions. 91
Church, as laid down by Benedict the Fourteenth in his Consti-
tution, " Declarasti Nobis", we must except, a) those days on
which the celebration of more than one Mass is permitted as a
privilege and not as a matter of necessity : in Ireland this privi-
lege is granted only for Christmas Day ; b~) those persons who
ratione paupertatis have received special permission from the
Holy See : and we may add that some bishops in Ireland have of
late received faculty from the Holy See to grant such permission
in the poorer districts of their respective dioceses.
2. The Sacred Congregations have repeatedly declared that
the obligation of parish priests to offer the Holy Sacrifice for their
flocks is not only real but personal. Hence, in reply to the Vicar
Apostolic of Bois-le-Duc in Holland, the S. C. of Propaganda
wrote on the llth March, 1843, that another priest might be
substituted to apply the Sacrifice of the Mass for the flock on
Sundays, etc., only " in casibus verae necessitatis et dummodo
ex canonica causa fiat". The S. Congregation of the Tridentine
Council, on the 25th of September, 1847, and the S. Congrega-
tion of Rites, on the 22nd July, 1848, repeated the same decision,
and decreed that except ex causa legitima, " the parish priest
should himself offer up the Holy Sacrifice for his flock".
But may not the parish priest in his own house, or elsewhere
than in the parochial church, thus offer the Holy Sacrifice for
his flock ? Benedict the Fourteenth replies that the parish priest
is obliged to celebrate Missam parochialem (see his Bull, Cum
semper). Barbosa is equally explicit. " Tenetur parochus", he
says, " in dominicis et aliis festivis diebus, suis subditis missam
celebrare, in propria Ecclesia et non in alia" (de Officio Parochi,
part. 1, cap. 11): and Ferraris cites, in proof of the same opinion,
a decree of the S. Congregation of the Council (Bibl. Parochus,
art. 3).
Another case, however, now presents itself. The parish priest
ex legitimae causa is absent from his parish, or unable to say the
parochial Mass : can he then satisfy his obligation by offering up
the Holy Sacrifice pro populo in his own house, for instance, or
in some church of an adjoining parish? Bouix is the latest
writer we know of that examines this question, and it will suffice
for us to cite the conclusion at which he arrives : " Sequitur
parochum legitime absentem non posse oneri satisfacere, Missam
pro populo celebrando in loco ubi extra parochiam moratur". De
Parocho, pag. 590. A case, indeed, in point was proposed to the
Sacred Congregation as far back as the year 1 720. A parish priest
in Fano belonged to the metropolitan chapter, and in consequence
of his capitular duties, was unable on some festivals to be present
in his parochial church. The question arose how was he to
satisfy his obligation towards his flock. The Sacred Congregation
92 Liturgical Questions.
decided on the llth May, 1720, that he should procure another
priest who would not only say Mass in the parochial church, but
would also apply it " pro populo" (Bouix, De Parocho, pag.
591). This decree of the S. Congregation seems to us to give a
direct answer to the question proposed by our revered corres-
pondent.
3. As regards the prayers which should be said in Mass de
requie, the following rule is laid down by rubricists: " On all
privileged days, that is to say, on the ' commemoration of all
the faithful departed', on the day of burial, on the 3rd, 7th, 30th,
or anniversary day, and whenever there is solemn Mass de requie,
only one prayer is said". The last decree on the subject was
published on 12th August, 1854; it confirms many former deci-
sions, and adds: " Unicam orationem dicendam in Missa de
requie cum cantu, pro anima illius quern designat eleemosynam
exhibens".
When low Mass de requie is said on a day to which no special
privilege is attached, then at least three prayers are said. The
first must always be the prayer Pro defunctis Episcopis sen Sacer-
dotibus; and the last must always be Pro omnibus fidelibus de-
functis. The second prayer may be changed into one corres-
ponding with the intention for which the Mass is offered, and
even many prayers may be inserted in its stead. In this latter
case, however, the decree of 2nd Sept., 1741, should be attended
to : " Curandum ut (orationes) sint numero impares".
We may be permitted to avail of this occasion to call the atten-
tion of the clergy to an error which has crept into the first prayer
Pro defunctis Episcopis seu Sacerdotibus in some modern Missals.
The words " seu Sacerdotali" are by error inserted within
parentheses, as if they did not form part of the prayer, and more-
over, in one instance at least, they are altered to " vel Sacer-
dotali". The whole sentence, " Deus qui inter Apostolicos
Sacerdotes, famulos tuos Pontificali seu Sacerdotali fecisti digni-
tate vigere", should always be recited in full, for it is the inten-
tion of holy Church to comprise in this first prayer all those who
themselves had, during life, offered up the holy Sacrifice for the
repose of the faithful departed.
4. The epistles and gospels assigned for the four Masses de
requie in the Missal, may be used indifferently at any Mass for
the dead. The rubric is explicit on this head, and permits the
celebrant ad libitum to choose any one of these epistles and
gospels.
The Dies irae should be said in all Masses de requie in which
only one prayer is said. In all other Masses de requie it may
be recited or omitted ad arbitrium Sacerdotis (" Rubric Miss.").
5. At solemn Mass for the dead, the gradual and tract
Liturgical Questions 93
should be sung by the choir. This has been repeatedly com-
manded by the Holy See, and so strictly is it enjoined that the
solemn Mass de requie must be abandoned rather than have the
gradual or tract omitted. As the practice in some churches
in Ireland is not conformable to this rule, we here insert the
four decrees on which it is based. The decree of 5th July,
1631, replies to the query: " An in celebratione solemni Missae
defunctorum possit aliquid brevitatis causa omitti de eo quod
notatur in graduali"; and the answer is, " Nihil omittendum, sed
Missam esse cantandam prout jacet in Missali". In the course
of years, a contrary custom having been introduced in some
countries, the Sacred Congregation was interrogated in 1847
whether, where such was the local custom, it would be lawful to
omit the Dies irae, and chaunt only the tract Absolve, etc. The
S. Congregation replied on 27th February, 1847, that, notwith-
standing any custom to the contrary, both the Tract Absolve and
the sequence Dies irae should be sung. Some objections were
made against this decision, and hence the Sacred Congregation,
on the llth Sept., 1847, issued a further decree: " Vel non
celebrandas Missas defnnctorum vel canenda esse omnia quae
precationem suffragii respiciant" . A few years later new peti-
tions were presented representing the great inconvenience to
which the faithful were exposed by the length of the ceremony,
when both gradual and sequence were sung ; the Congregation
replied (deer. 12 Augusti, 1854), that in such cases some
strophes of the Dies irae might be omitted, " aliquas strophas
sequentiae Dies irae cantores praetermittere posse", but the
gradual and tract should always be sung.
94
DOCUMENT.
Apostolic Letter of Our Holy Father Pope Pius the Ninth, to
all Protestants, etc.
PIUS PP. IX.
Jam vos omnes noveritis, Nos licet immerentes ad hanc Petri
Cathedram evectos, ut iccirco supremo universae catholicae
Ecclesiae regimini, et curae ab ipso Christo^ Domino Nobis
divinitus commissae praepositos opportunum existimasse, omnes
Venerabiles Fratres totius orbis Episcopos apud nos vpcare, et
in Oecumenicum Concilium futuro anno cpncelebrandum
cogere, ut cum eisdem Venerabilibus Fratribus in sollicitudinis
Nostrae partem vocatis ea omnia consilia suscipere possimus,
quae magis opportuna, ac necessaria sint, turn ad dissipandas
tot pestiferorum errorum tenebras, qui cum summo animarum
damno ubique, in dies, dominantur et debacchantur, turn ad
quotidie magis constituendum, et amplificandum in christianis
populis, vigilantiae Nostrae concreditis, verae fidei, justitiae,
veraeque Dei pacis regnum. Ac vehementer confisi arctissimo
et amantissimo conjunctionis foedere, quo Nobis, et Apostolicae
huic Sedi iidem Venerabiles Fratres mirifice obstricti sunt, qui
nunquam intermiserunt omni supremi Nostri Pontificates tern-
pore splendidissima erga Nos, et eamdem Sedem, fidei, amoris,
et observantiae testimonia praebere, ea profecto spe nitimur fore
ut veluti praeteritis saeculis alia generalia Concilia, ita etiam
praesenti saeculo Concilium hoc Oecumenicum a Nobis indic-
tum uberes, laetissirnosque, divina adspirante gratia, fructus
emittat pro inajore Dei gloria, ac sempiterna lioruinum salute.
Itaque in hanc spem erecti, ac Domini Nostri Jesu Christi,
qui pro imiversi humani generis salute tradidit animam suain,
caritate excitati, et compulsi, haud possumus, quin futuri Con-
cilii occasione eos omnes Apostolicis, ac paternis Nostris verbis
alloquamur, qui etiamsi eumdem Christum Jesum veluti Re-
demptorem agnoscant, et in Christian onomine glorientur, tamen
veram Christi fidem haud profitentur, neque catholicae Ecclesiae
communionem sequuntur. Atque id agimus, ut omni studio et
caritate eos vel maxime moneamus, exhortemur, et obsecremus,
ut serio considerare et animadvertere velint, num ipsi viam ab
eodem Christo Domino praescriptam sectentur, quae ad aeter-
nam perducit salutem. Et quidem nemo inficiari, ac dubitare
potest, ipsum Christum Jesum, ut humanis omnibus generatio-
nibus redemptionis suae fructus applicaret, suam hie in terris
supra Petrum unicam aedificasse Ecclesiam, id est unam, sanctain,
Document. 95
cathohcam, apostolicam, eique necessariam omnem contulisse
potestatem, ut integrum inviolatumque custodiretur fidei deposi-
tum, ac eadem fides omnibus populis, gentibus, nationibus
traderetur, ut per baptisma omnes in mysticum suum coipus
cooptarentur homines, et in ipsis semper servaretur, ac perfice-
retur ilia nova vita gratiae, sine qua nemo potest unquam aeter-
nam mereri et assequi vitam, utque eadem Ecclesia, quae mysti-
cum suum constituit corpus, in sua propria natura semper
stabilis et immota usque ad consummationem saeculi permaneret,
vigeret, et omnibus filiis suis omnia salutis praesidia suppedi-
taret. Nunc vero qui accurate consideret, ac medidetur condi-
tionem, in qua versantur variae, et inter se discrepantes, reli-
giosae societates sejunctae a catholica Ecclesia, quae a Christo
Domino, ej usque Apostolis sine inter missione per legitimos
sacros suos pastores semper exercuit, et in praesentia etiam
exercet divinam potestatem sibi ab ipso Dominum traditam, vel
facile sibi persuadere debebit, neque aliquam peculiarem, neque
omnes simul conjunctas, ex eisdem societatibus ullo modo con-
stituere, et esse, illam unam et catholicam Ecclesiam, quam
Christus Dominus aedificavit, constituit, et esse voluit, neque
membrum, aut partem ejusdem Ecclesiae ullo modo dice posse,
quandoquidem sunt a catholica unitate visibiliter divisae. Cum
enim ejusmodi societates careant viva ilia, et a Deo constituta
auctoritate, quae homines res fidei, morumque disciplinam prae-
sertim docet, eosque dirigit, ac moderatur in iis omnibus, quae
ad aeternam salutem pertinent, turn societates ipsae in suis doc-
trinis continenter variarunt, et haec mobilitas, ac instabilitas
apud easdem societates nunquam cessat. Quisque vel facile
intelligit, et clare aperteque noscit, id vel maxime adversari
Ecclesiae a Christo Domino institutae, in qua veritas semper
stabilis, nullique unquam immutationi obnoxia persistere debet,
veluti deposition eidem Ecclesiae traditum integerrime custodi-
eiidum, pro cujus custodia Spiritus Sancti praesentia, auxilium-
que ipsi Ecclesiae fuit perpetuo promissum. Nemo autem
ignorat, ex hisce doc trin arum, et opinionum dissidiis socialia
quoque oriri schismata, atque ex his originem habere innumera-
biles communiones, et sectas, quae cum summo christianae,
civilisque reipublicae damno magis in dies propagantur.
Enimvero quicumque religionem veluti humanae societatis
fundamentum cognoscit, non poterit non agnoscere, et fateri
quantam in civilem societatem vim ejusmodi principiorum,
ac religiosarum societatum inter se pugnantium divisio, ac dis-
crepantia exercuerit, et quam vehementer negatio auctoritatis a
Deo constitutae ad humani intellectus persuasiones regendas,
atque ad hominum turn in privata, turn in sociali vita actiones
dirigendas excitaverit, promoverit, et aluerit hoa infelicissimos
gg Document.
rerum, ac temporum motus, et perturbationes, quibus omnes fere
populi miserandum in modum agitantur, et affliguntur.
Quamobrem ii omnes, qui Ecclesiae catholicae unitatem et veri-
tatem non tenent1 occasionem amplectantur ^ hujus Concilii,
quo Ecclesia Catholica, cui eorum Majores adscript! erant, novura
intimae unitatis, et inexpugnabilis vitalis sui roboris exhibet
argumentum, ac indigentiis eorum cordis respondentes ab eo
statu se eripere studeant, in quo de sua propria salute securi esse
non possunt. Nee desinant ferventissimas miserationum Domino
offere preces, ut divisionis murum disjiciat, errorum caliginem
depellat, eosque ad sinum sanctae Matris Ecclesiae reducat, in
qua eorum Majores salutaria vitae pascua habuere, et in qua solum
Integra Christi Jesu doctrina servatur, traditur, et coelestis gratiae
dispensantur mysteria.
Nos quidem cum ex supremi Apostolici Nostri ministerii officio
Nobis ab ipso Christo Domino commisso omnes boni pastoris *•
partes studiosissime explere, et omnes universi terrarum orbis
homines paterna caritate prosequi, et amplecti debeamus, turn
has Nostras ad omnes christianos a Nobis sejunctos Litteras
damus, quibus eos etiam, atque etiam hortamur et obsecramus,
ut ad unicum Christi ovile redire festinent ; quandoquidem eorurn
in Christo Jesu salutem ex animo summopere optamus, ac time-
mus ne eidem Nostro Judici ratio a Nobis aliquando sit reddenda,
nisi, quantum in Nobis est, ipsis ostendamus, et muniamus viam
ad eamdem aeternam assequendam salutem. In omni certe
oratione, et obsecratione, cum gratiarum actione nunquam desis-
timus dies noctesque pro ipsis coelestium luminum, et gratiarum
abundantiam ab aeterno animarum Pastore humiliter, enixeque
exposcere. Et quoniam vicariam Ejus hie in terris licet immer-
ito gerimus operam, iccirco errantium filiorum ad catholicae
Ecclesiae reversionem expansis manibus ardentissime expectamus,
ut eos in coelestis Patris domum amantissime excipere, et inex-
haustis ejus thesauris ditare possimus. Etenim ex hoc optatis-
simo ad veritatem, et communionem cum catholica Ecclesia reditu
non solum singulorum, sed totius etiam christianae societatis
salus maxim e pendet, et universus mundus vera pace perfrui
non potest, nisi fiat unum ovile, et unus pastor.
Datum Romae apud S. Petrum die 13 Septembris, 1868.
Pontificatus Nosfri Anno Vicesimotertio.
1 S. August, ep. LXI. al. CCXXIII.
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD,
DECEMBER, 1868.
VI. — St. <d2ngus was probably ordained Priest at Tallaglit. —
Treatise of St. ^Engus " De Sanctis Hiberniae".— The " Sal-
tair-na-rann" . — Pedigrees of Irith Saints attributed to his
authorship.
ALTHOUGH Aengus is said to have become a professed monk in
Clonenagh Monastery, and to have concealed the fact of his en-
rolment in the ecclesiastical order, when he sought admission to
Maelruan's Monastery at Tallagh,1 it is probable, our saint had
only received clerical tonsure, or at most minor orders, when he
first left Dysartenos. Were Aengus advanced to the priesthood
at this period of life, a necessity for celebrating the holy sacrifice
of Mass very frequently,2 with the performance of other peculiar
sacerdotal functions, must soon have revealed his rank to Abbot
Maelruan, and to the members of his community. Even were
thoj-e solitary or strictly private Masses, formerly permitted to be
celebrated in many ancient churches,3 allowed as a practice in
1 Regarding the first statement, Colgan says of him, " Monachum professus
in nobili monasterio de Cluain-edhneach", and in the second instance, " cleri-
cale institutum occultans". See Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Mari'd. Vita
S. Aengussii, cap. ii. v., pp. 579, 580.
2 See that vtry learned treatise of Cardinal Bona, Rerum Lilurgicarum de his
quae ad Missam generatim spectant, LiD. i. cap. iv. pp 203, 204, for proofs of
frequently offering the Holy Victim of propitiation, and from the earliest ages
of the Christian Church. Opera Omma Emin. Dom, D. Joannis JBona, ti. R. E.
Card. Pres. Ord. Cis. Antwerp edition, A.D. 1723, folio.
3 Cardinal Bona, Rerum Luurgicarunt de his quae ad Missam genvraiim spec-
tant. Having described different rites for celeuratiug the Holy Sacrifice, he
remarks: " actas aliquando iu Monasteriis Missas a solo sucerdote nemino
praesente et respondente, quae idcirco solitariae dictae sint" . . . Verum
Missas privatas non a Monachis, sed a primae Ecclesiae Putribus originem
traxisse capite sequeuti ostendain : Missas autein solitarias in coenobiis actas
VOL. V. 7
93 The- Life and Works of
our early religious houses, the secret of our saint's priestly ordi-
nation could not long be concealed. It is more difficult to com-
prehend how, as a monk, he had not been questioned _on the
subject of his having already received the peculiar and noticeable
ecclesiastical tonsure. However, there can hardly be any doubt,
after Abbot Maelruan discovered the real name, virtues, and learn-
ing of his highly-gifted disciple, with his dispositions for the office,
Aengns must soon have been raised to the sacerdotal dignity.
For want of more complete records, referring to our saint's
bi
witl
present
require us to launch upon a sea of conjecture.
Towards the saints of his country, ingus seems to have en-
tertained an extraordinary veneration. According to Colgan's
account, he wrote five distinct books, " De Sanctis Hiberniae",
which treat, in a particular manner, about their several lives, or
on matters pertaining to them. In the first book, he gives the
different distinctions of these saints in classes; he "enumerates
three hundred and forty-five bishops, two hundred and ninety-
nine abbots and priests, and seventy-eight deacons. These he
has comprised within the limits of three chapters. The second
book is known as the " Homonymi", or the enumeration of saints
bearing similar names, but distinguished by various other titles.
It mentions eight hundred and fifty-five distinct persons, under
sixty-two different names, and it is divided into two parts ; the
first part containing fifty chapters, on holy men of the same
name, and the second twelve chapters on holy women. The
third book, known as the " Book of Sons", divides the saints
into another classification. It names saints who are descended
from the same father, and afterwards only sons, each cited by
the father's name. Lastly, are enumerated female saints, in
their descent from the same father. The names of ninety-four
fathers,1 who had one saint, or more saints than one as children,
are here preserved, although the number of saints cannot be
discovered. The fourth book comprises the names of two
hundred and ten saints, with their maternal genealogy. It
would appear from this title, that the paternal genealogy of
those saints had been previously written, either by another
hand, or by_ that of JEngus. The fifth "Book of Litanies"
enumerates, in form of an invocation, a long list of saints. In
ex indulgentia,ut loquitur Eduensis, sive ex privilegio; canonicae sanctiones de-
monstrate, quae sublatis omnibus privileges, ne quis solus Missas agerat, dis-
tricte prohibuerunt". Lib. i. cap. xiii. p. 230.
Colgan adds, " omissis aliquot aliis, quae prae nimia exesi codicis vetustate
?i mm possunt". Ada Sanctorum Uiberniae, xi. Martii. Vita £. &ngussti
St. SEvyusius Hagiograplius. 99
several of its invocations, the principal name, with, associated
disciples, is generally found. This name usually pertains to
the saint who presided over a particular monastery, with the
number of holy disciples under his rule ; or a saint who was
buried at some particular church, with his companions, who
"slept in the Lord"; or perchance some apostle, who, with his
numerous band of missionaries, went forth to preach the Gospel
to benighted nations.1 The names, or native places of many
foreigners, who flocked to the hives of learning and sanctity in
Ireland, are noted in an especial manner. Here are found in-
voked the names of Italian, Egyptian, British, and Gallic saints,
who had been buried in Ireland.2
Dr. Lanigan incorrectly asserts, that the foregoing work is
sometimes called Saltair-na-rann, which means, the Metrical
or Multipartite Psalter.3 But it would appear from Colgan's
statement, that the Saltair-na-rann was altogether a distinct
work.4 After describing the work, " De Sanctis Hiberniae",
he mentions the Saltai? -na-rann as having been composed in
1 See also Harris' Ware, vol. iii. Writers of Ireland, book i. chap. v. pp.
52, 53.
3 The portion of this work, known as the Litany, has been translated and
published for the first time in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, vol. iii. Nos.
xxxii. and xxxiii., for May and June, 1867. The original Irish occupies one
side of the page, in the Irish characters ; while on the opposite side, there is a
correct English translation, by a competent scholar, writing under the initials
B. M. C. Explanatory notes are found at the foot of nearly all those pages.
A learned dissertation precedes this Litany, taken from the Archives of St.
Isidore's Franciscan Convent, at Rome. Some years ago. Dr. Todd examined
this MS., containing ten folia, which he found to have constituted a part of
the Book of Leinster. This fact would seem to identify it with the MS. seen
at Louvain, and described by Father Seller, the Bollandist, as we have al-
ready stated. In point of antiquity, therefore, this version dates back to the
first half of the twelfth century. These folia contain the Martyrology of
Tallaght — to which allusion has been already made — together with five of
seven works attributed to -<Engus. Ward and Colgan consulted this MS. ; for
their readings seem to have been marked, and these are very useful in assisting
the Irish scholar to decipher certain words. However legible in their time,
these are nearly altogether defaced at present. In Ward's and Sirin's Acts of
St. Rumold, published at Louvain in 1662, this Litany is quoted at great
length, p. 206. With the exception of the groups of seven bishops, nearly all
the saints, whose intercession is invoked, are given.
3 Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, vol. iii. chap. xx. § x. p. 247. And in
note (106, p. 251) he remarks on this passage: "Under this title Colgan says
(z'6., p. 582) that it appears in some old Irish MSS. and that he got a part of
it with the inscription, from Saltair-na-rann composed by Aenyus Cele-De.
He observes, that the latest saint mentioned in it is St. Tigernach, son of St.
Mclla, and founder of Doire-melle (see chap, xix § J3), who died abbot of
Kill-achad, in the now county of Cavan, on the 4th of November, A.D. 805
(806). See AA. SS. p. 796, and Archdall at Kitlachad}. This is a strong
proof of the assertion that Aengus was the author of this work".
4 There is a MS. Martyrology, entitled Saltair-na- Rann, preserved in the
British Museum [Egerton, 185]. It is a thin, small quarto-sized volume in
verse, and, with exception of a lew pages, it has been written in the bold and
accurate hand of Dubhaltach Mac Firbisigh, about the year 1650. It consists
of sixty-seven pages, containing five quatrains, or twenty lines, on eacb
7 B
The Life and Works of
the Irish language ; and, of course, as being distinct from die first
named treatise, which had been written mostly in Latin. Yet, J
must confess, that the sentences employed by Colgan in his
account are rather ambiguous.1 The work entitled " De Sanctis
Hiberniae", does not appear to have been a metrical compo-
sition, as may be seen in extracts taken from it, and found in
many' of Colgan s notes. The Saltair-na-rann comprises a His-
tory of the Old Testament,2 written in verse,3 and which is
attributed to jEngus as its author. We are informed, that the
Chronicle of ^ngus Ceile De, known as Saltair-na-Rann, i.e.
" Saltairof the Poems" or " Verses", has been so called, because,
Salm, " Psalm", and a Poem are the same.4 It contains one
hundred and fifty poems, composed in the finest style of the
Gaelic language, as understood in the eighth century.
This celebrated work of Aengus Ceil6 De has been called
Saltair-na-rann* It is distributed into parts.6 It has been
page. The title is in accordance with the second quatrain, which, a8 Angli-
cised, thus begins:
" The Saltair of the verses shall be the name
Of my poem : it is not an unwise title".
This Saltair-na-Rann, however, is entirely distinct from that of Aengus
Ceile De.
1 " Opus ex jam memoratis opusculis conflatum in quibusdam antiquis patnae
membranis patrio sermone intitulatur Saltuir-na-rann : quae vox Latiue red-
dita Psalterium metricum, nunc Psalterium multipartitum denotat. Et in
utroque sensu, diversa S. Aengussii opera recte sic inscribi poterant". Acta
Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii. Vita S. Aengussii, cap. xv. pp. 581, 582. I
know not on what authority Harris makes the following statement with regard
to jEngus, when he says, '• to him is ascribed by some Ps alter -na-rann, being
a Miscellany Collection of Irish affairs, in pro§e and verse, Latin and Irish".
Harris' Ware, vol. ii. Writers of Ireland, book i. p. 53.
1 The other Sallair-na-Rann, to which allusion has been made in a preceding
note, contains three hundred and twelve quatrains, written in the inferior
Gaelic of the sixteenth, if riot of a later century. Yet, it is not, strictly
•peaking, a Gaelic Martyrology ; for all the Irish saints Professor O'Curry
could discover in it were, St. Patrick, St. Brigid of Kildare, St. Ciaran of
Saighir, and St. Ciaran of Clonmacnois. According to the poet's arrangement,
every quatrain commenced with a saint's name, but sometimes there are three
or even four quatrains devoted to one day, as the number of festivals happened
to fall within it. Every saint, however, has a separate quatrain devoted to
him. The modern writer, who supplied Mac Firbis's omissions, has admitted
•ome incorrections. See Ltctures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish
Ht&tory, Lect. xvii. pp. 3oO, 3(51, and Appendix, No. cix. p. 609.
1 Harris says, this work had been written in elegant metre, but he seems to
regard it as a distinct work from the Psaltar-na-rann.
4 See Rev. Dr. Kr.aiiig's History of Ireland, Preface. This writer adds that
a Salierium and a jUuanaire, or " book of poems", are identical.
5 This is most probably the work described by O'Reilly, where he says :
"Aengus also wrote the Psalter- na-rann, which is an abridged history of the
descendants of Abraham, from the birth of Isaac, until after the death of
Moses1'. * * * " The Psalter-na-rann is preserved in a large
MS., the property of Sir William Betham. It is written in a fine strong hand,
and occupies upwards of six folio pages, closely written on the largest size
vellum". Chronological Account of nwly Four Hundred Irish Writers, p. liv.
* Iu Hams' Ware, vol. iii. ( Writers of Ireland, book i. chap. v. p. 33), it is
St. jffingusius Hagiogmplius. 101
written in the form of prayers, tending to raise the reader's
mind to the love of God, and to the celebration of His praise,
for all the Creator's works are referred to His greater glory, and
rest upon His power as their final cause. The foregoing reasons
are assigned by Colgan for this work deserving the title of
Saltair-na-rann.1 A different work, compiled from the five
small treatises already mentioned, in which our saints are in-
voked, in the form of a prayer, might be well called Psalterium
multipartitum, as Colgan remarks, on account of the various
parts into which it is distributed. He adds, that both authority
testifies and evidence persuades us, that it had been thus in-
scribed and composed by St ^Engus. The authority assigned
is that of an old parchment MS., from which the treatise,
" Homonymi", already described, has been extracted. It was
sent from Ireland2 to Colgan. It bore the following title:
" Homonymi Hiberniae Sancti ex Saltair-na-rann, quod compo-
said that some ascribed to Aengus a Psalter-na-rann, being a miscellany on
Irish affairs, in prose and verse, Latin and Irish. " Aengus wrote no such
work", says Dr. Lanigan, " and his only Psalter, or Saltair-na-rann, were
those above mentioned. Harris got his information either from Toland, or
from some one who took it from him. In his Nazarenus (Letter ii. sect. 3)
Toland says that Aengus wrote a chronicle, entitled Psalter-na-ranri". Thig
is characterized as a falsehood invented by an impious writer, who did not wish
it to be known, that Aengus was chiefly employed in treating about saints,
and that he used to invoke them. At chap. ii. § 8, Toland advances a still
more monstrous statement, viz , that the Irish used not pray to saints. Now,
nothing is more clear in our ecclesiastical history, than that our ancient Irish
progenitors were in the habit of invoking them. Dungal, a most learned
Irishman of the early times, defends this practice against Claudius. Brogan,
who in the seventh century wrote St. Brigid's Life in Irish verse, often in-
vokes her in the course of it, and concludes with these words: "There are
two holy virgins in heaven, who may undertake my protection, Mary and St.
Brigid, on whose patronage let each of us depend". To omit many other proofs,
Adamnan, in his Vita S. Columba, lib. ii. cap. 45, bears testimony. This prac-
tice was so general in Ireland, and so well known to learned men, who have
examined our history, that in his Discourse on the Religion of the Ancient Irish,
Ussher found it expedient not to touch on invocation of the saints. See Dr.
Lanigan's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, vol. iii. chap. xx. § x. n. 107,
p. 251.
1 Colgan says : " Uti aptissime in utroque sensu Saltair-na-rann, i.e. Psalte-
rium metricum, vel Prfalterium multipartitum, vocari posset ; uti et de facto
in alterutro, vel utroque sensa nuncupari et intitulari consuevit". Acta Sanc-
t^rum Hiberniae, xi. Martii. Vita £'. Aengussii, cap. xv. p. 582. The late Pro
lessor Eugene O'Curry told me, he had examined a magnificent copy of the
Psalter-na-Rann, at Oxford. At that time, he informed the writer, no perfect
copy of it was known to be extant in Ireland.
2 The person who brought this book with him from Ireland was the Very
Rev. Father Francis Mathew, at one time Guardian of the Convent at Louvain,
and Franciscan Provincial over the Irish province. He was a man of much
erudition, austerity of life, and very zealous in the cause of religion. He
presented this work, already mentioned, to Colgan, in the year 1033. By his
preaching, exhortations, and pious labours, he had greatly contributed for
many years to the advancement and preservation of Ireland's orthodox and
persecuted faith. At length, having endured various trials and tortures, with
the greatest patience and constancy, this pious sufferer was put to death by
the Protestants, A.D. 164^. Colgan adds, that Geoffrey Keating, also, in the
102 The 'Life and Works of
suit jEngussius Keledeus". The Saltair-na-rann is interpreted
by Colcran to mean the Multipartite Psalter. Reason, he says,
induces^ to believe that this had been a work of St ./Engus,
since there is no saint found in any portion of it, who had not
departed life before the time of St. ^Engus, or who had not
been, at least, his co temporary. This matter had been dis-
covered, by a careful collation of this treatise with our annals
and native records. According to these later authentic sources,
no saint, mentioned in the work alluded to, is found to have
lived after A.D. 800, except St. Tigernach, founder of Doire-
melle monastery. He is said to have departed A.D. 805, at
which time there can be no doubt that ^Engus was still giving.
For, although our annals relate the death of St. Melditribius
in the year 840, yet, it is doubtful, if he be the saint bearing
that name, and mentioned in the fortieth chapter of the second
book, as already described.1
There are Pedigrees of Irish saints yet existing, and these have
been generally ascribed to Aengus Ceile De. Several copies of
this tract are preserved in our ancient MSS. ; but it is doubtful,
if any of these date back, in their present state, to the time of
Aengus, towards the close of the eighth or beginning of the
ninth century. In the copies we possess, there may be defections
or additions, as compared with the original composition. The
oldest copy known is also the best and most copious,2 and its
genuineness has been generally admitted by most of our anti-
quarians. It is the more valuable, because it almost invariably
gives references to the sites of churches, in connection with the
holy persons whose pedigrees are found recorded. It often
enumerates and traces the lineage of groups of persons or asso-
ciates, who occupied these churches at one time, and occasion-
ally their successors for a few generations. In the form of
annotations, an immense amount of ecclesiastical and topogra-
phical information is conveyed. These historic comments esta-
blish with satisfactory exactness a date for the foundation of
nearly ^ all our primitive churches. It is an almost invariable
rule with the venerable genealogist, to trace the pedigree of each
second book of his History, attributes this work to St. JEngus. See Colgan's
Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, ri. Martii, n. 14, p. 583.
1 See Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii. Vita S. jEngussii,
cap. xv. p. 582. Colgan observes, that he was induced to treat, at some
length, on the valuable works of this venerable saint, that his readers might
know what great antiquity and authority attached to the aforesaid Marty ro-
logies and other works, and which he had BO frequently taken occasion to
quote in his own volumes. Ibid. It would also appear, Colgan intended to
publish the works of St. ^Engus, had his own life been prolonged. Ibid.,
cap. xiv. p. 581.
2 This is found in the Book of Leinster, which was compiled within the
years 112U and 11GO. A copy is contained in the Book of Ballymote, compiled
St. ^Engusius Hagiographus. 103
saint to some remarkable personage, whose name and period
can be ascertained from our national records and books of secular
genealogy.1
This is the oldest collection of our national saints' pedigrees
known to be in existence. Its exact time of composition
cannot be determined, but it was probably one of Aengus'a
latest and most matured literary efforts.
VII Modes of life at TallagJi until the time arrived for
departure. — St. ^Engus returns to Clonenagh, where he is
chosen as Abbot. — Supposed to have been a Chorepiscopus —
Occasional retirement to Dysart Enos. — His death and burial.
— Value of St. ^Engus1 hagiographical works. — Conclusion.
We may well conceive how affectionately and agreeably
passed their hours of occasional relaxation, as of study, while
the holy Abbot Melruan and Aengus were companions, in
the coenobium at Tallagh.. Their interchange of pious and cul-
tivated thought must have proved mutually conducive to the
accuracy and unction of those hagiographical and sacred histo-
ric works, which seem specially to have had a literary fascina-
tion for them. The teaching of ecclesiastical and secular learning
probably engaged a considerable part of their daily monastic
routine. For we cannot doubt but native and foreign litera-
ture, as also the science of the period, was then taught in the
school of Tallagh, with the religious training and dogma pecu-
liar to such establishments. It seems evident, from references
made to Eusebius and St. Jerome, that Aengus was well versed
in the Greek as in the Latin language. JSo long as Melruan
lived, peace and security reigned within the Irish monastic en-
closures. Had he survived a few years, the tocsin of alarm
would have sounded the first approach of Northman invasions ;
while many of the shrines and illuminated Books of Erinn were
destined to suffer wreck and ruin from these Pagan spoilers.
in 1391 ; and another in the Book of Lecain, written A.T>. 1416. A later stilt
is found in the great Book of Genealogies, compiled by Dudley Mac Firbis,
in 1650.
1 See Professor Eugene O'Curry's Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of
Ancient Irish History, Lect. xvii. pp. 359, 360. This learned writer adds : "By
referring to these pedigrees, you may easily find the time at which any of the
early saints of Erinn flourished. As, for instance, St. Colum Cille is recorded
to have been the son of Feidlimidh, son of Fergus, son of Conall, son of Niall
" of the Nine Hostages", monarch of Erinn, who was killed in the year 405.
Now, by allowing the usual average of thirty years to each of the four gene-
rations from Niall to Colum, making 120 years, and adding them to 405, we
shall find that Colum (who is known to have died in the year 592) must have
been born about the year 520. He was actually born, as we know from other
sources, in 515".
.104 The Life and Works of
When holy Melruan had been called to bliss, our saint keenly
felt the loss of his society and gentle rule. The sylvan shades
around Tallagh had less attraction during the noon-tide walk, and
more lonely seemed the solitudes of scarped ravines and mountains.
Climbing topmost heights of the latter, the eyes of Aengus were
often turned towards the rich plains beneath, through which the
Liffey and Barrow flowed. Peering beyond their bounds, the
hills of Dysart were seen on a distant south-western horizon.
Old associations were revived; nor were the monastery and
monks of Clonenagh forgotten in the train of awakened recol-
lections. Perhaps some message from its superior and inmates
urged his return. In prosecuting his archaic studies, Aengus
had travelled to many places, and always with some holy and
useful object in view. Jt now seemed the will of Heaven, that
he should turn once more towards the land of Leix and Ossory ;
and, accordingly, we may suppose a sympathetic tear coursed
down his cheeks and those of his fellow-religious, when he took
scrip and staff, bidding adieu for the last time to those blissful
haunts of science and religion, where he had spent some of his
life's best years. We know not the exact period when he parted
from this mountain home ; but, it appears altogether likely, his
renowned superior had departed this life before Aengus thought
of leaving, nor had the eighth century drawn, quite to its close.
^Engus survived his friend the holy Abbot of Tallaght for a
very considerable period. The name of St. Molruan is found
in his Festilogium, where he is called the " Bright Sun of
Ireland'V This circumstance seems to prove, that his work,
in its finished state, must have been composed subsequently to
the year 792. After remaining some years at Tallaght, ^Engus
returned to Clonenagh His ascetic and literary fame must
have culminated to a high degree, at J;he time his thoughts
reverted to the old retreat : —
" Here to return and die at home at last''.2
Doubtless, he was welcomed by the good abbot and his commu-
nity at Clonenagh. Over this great monastery, in due course
he was chosen Abbot. He is said to have succeeded Me-
lathgenms, who died in 767 (recte 768), according to Ware.3
' A mistake, probably a typographical one, occurs in Dalton's History of
&203 ? Si Ubkn' PJ61' Where the death of Saint Molruan> °r Maelruan,
of ln^d t TV*?, ?8M :lwherfas the year 788 is named for the first arrival
of Jnh? ™? rT^8ht< Thf. rueal date for St- Molruan's death is the 7th day
Ihw accomplished and usually accurate historian incorrectly
died8 ^JffifilJtSK? TSht' and Speaklng °f ^°gU8' ^ h°
* Oliver Goldsmith's Traveller.
ttdathn !?if °Habl|e-' howcver> that our Mint was the immediate successor of
JligLiuai. By his namesake, ^Engus Ceile De is called Abbot. In the
Sf. ^Engusius Hagiograplms. 105
He was also elevated to the episcopal dignity; for it was a very
usual practice then prevailng in Ireland, to invest the superiors
of all our great religious houses with this exalted rank. But,
we may regard this dignity he obtained, as qualifying him to be
classed only with the inferior prelates, known as Chorepiscopi,
in early times. Dr. Lanigan thinks it probable, that St. ^Engus
had been Abbot over a monastery at Dysartenos, which he is
supposed to have founded, whilst he also presided over Clone-
nagh. !
But notwithstanding his elevation, and the duties that de-
volved upon him, in virtue of his high office, as Abbot over
the greater monastery, that favourite retreat at Dysartenos,2
seems to have been ever dear to his recollections. Finding his
end approaching, ^Engus withdrew to the scenes of his former
retirement and austerities. He breathed his last prayers with
his last breath, about the year 824, according to the most pro-
bable conjecture, on Friday, the llth day of March.3 Sir
Martyrologies cited in a succeeding note, it will be seen, that he was also
styled Bishop.
1 Another JEngus, who was almost contemporary with this saint, has left
an elegant poem in praise of him. From this poem Colgan derives a great
part of ISt. Aengus Ceile De's Acts. That the writer of this poem was abbot
at Clouenagh, as also at Disert-Aengus, is possible, and Colgan observes, that
his hints are even stronger as to the latter place. The matter can easily be
settled. As both places lay near each other, within the barony of Mary-
borough, Aengus might have been abbot over both these establishments. Disert-
Aengus, which commenced with himself, may be considered simply as a cell
to the older and greater monastery at Clonenagh. At Clonenagh and Disert-
enos, or Disert-Aengus, Archdall has inverted the order of Aengus' trans-
actions. After making Aengus found an abbey at Disert-Aengus, Archdall
sends him to Tallaght, where, it is said, he died. Now, it is clear from the
Acts, that Aengus was no more than a simple monk when he removed to
Tallaght. As to the place of his death, it could not have been Tallaght ; for,
as we find in said A cts, he was buried at Clonenagh. That Aengus, who was
panegyrist of our saint, seems to have been, as Colgan justly conjectures,
abbot Aengus, surnamed the Wise. He belonged to Clontert-Molua, and died
in 858 or 859. See Colgan, AA. SS. p. 582, and also Dr. Lanigan's Ecclesi-
astical .History oj Ireland, vol. iii. chap. xx. § x. n. 98, pp. 248, 249. In a
succeeding note, Dr. Lanigan remarks: "Considering the Irish practice of
promoting eminent abbots to tha episcopacy, we need not look for any other
see for him than one- of the above mentioned monasteries". Ibid., n. 99.
p. 249.
2 Mr. O'Donovan, in the Tenth Article of his edited Miscellany of the Irish
Archaeological Society, vol. i. note g., comments on the term Disert, a common
topographical prefix to Irish localities. He says : — " This word, which is
translated desertus locus in " Cormac's Glossary", and desertum by Colgan
(Acta Sanctorum, p. 579), is sometimes used in ancient Irish manuscripts, to
denote a hermitage, or an asylum for pilgrims or penitents. It occurs in this
latter sense in the Leabhar Braec, fol. lUO, a. a., and in the Book of Leinster,
in the MS. Library of Trinity College, Dublin, H. 2, 12, fol. 113, b.a".— -Irish
Charters in the Book oj Kells, n. (g.) p. 112.
3 *• There being good reason to think that Aengus survived the year 806
Colgan conjectures that the year of his death was either 819, 824, or 830;
whereas in each of them the llth of March fell on a Friday". Dr. Luuigau'*
106 The Life and Works of
James Ware names one or other of the years 819, 824, or 830,
coniecturally, as referring to our saint's death, from the circum-
stance of the llth March falling on the /ma sexto, or Friday,
at each of these dates. Professor Eugene O'Curry thinks St.
Aen<ms Ceite De must have died about the year 815.1 We
know not how many years he lived; but probably this saint had
not attained a very advanced age, when his death occurred.
jEngus was buried at Clonenagh, according to his Acts, as
given by Colgan." But, whether he died there or at Dysartenos,
is uncertain.^ If he built a monastery at the latter place, no
trace of its ruins can be discovered at present;4 and hence, it
might be a safe conjecture to suppose Dysartenos had^ been
only a cell or hermitage, constructed by St. jEngus, for his sole
accommodation and retirement.5
Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, vol. iii. chap, xx; § x. n. 100. p. 249. "Ita
eodem die Martyrologium Tamlact. Aengussii Episcopi Hobhnii nepotis.
Marian. Magnus Aengussius Hobleniinepos Episcopus. Mart. Dungall. Aen-
gussius nepos Hoblenii, Episcopus, estqui comvosuit festilogmm. In ipso etiam
Aengussii Festilogio in quibusdam exemplaribus ponitur nata hac die; sed
ilia insulsa additio est : quae idcirco in vetustioribus exemplarbus non repe-
ritur". Colgan's^cta Sanctorum Hiberniae, xi. Martii, n. 15, p. 583.
1 See Lectures on t/ie Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History, Lect.
xvii. p. 362.
2 See Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae} xi. Martii, Vita S. Aengussii, cap, xvi. p.
682.
3 In the note already given, the anonymous scholiast says, that our saint
was both educated and buried at Disert- Aengus. It is certain, however, that
Acngus had been educated at Clonenagh. Colgan remarks, that the Diserfc
named, either is not different from Clonenagh, or our saint most probably died
and had been buried at the first place, his body having been afterwards trans-
lated and deposited at Clonenagh. But, he acknowledges that our annals make
a distinction between both places, as in reality they were bound to do. A dis-
tance of some miles intervenes between Dysartenos and Clonenagh. The
present writer is fully cognizant of this fact, and has long been conversant
with the bearing and local peculiarities of both places.
4 Alluding to this locality of Dysartenos, however, a writer well knowing
its folk-lore observes: u Not many years ago, the remains of the foundation of
St. Aengus's sacred edifice were discovered by a farmer, who proiessed the doc-
trines of the Church of England. This faVmer, much to his credit, reveren-
tially would not suffer the remains to be disturbed. He re-covered with earth
the stone steps that rested at the foot of the once altar, on which the holy an-
choret offered the Sacrifice of the Mass. The field in which this discovery was
made is near to the dwelling of Mr. James Lawler". O'Byrne's History of the
Queen's County, chap, xxi. p. 57.
6 In what part of Dysartenos parish this cell, or monastery, if such, was
situated, the antiquary i;j not likely to discover. Many remains of old buil-
dings are yet standing in the immediate neighbourhood. If, however, I might
be allowed to offer a conjecture, St. Aengus possibly selected for his cell the
site on which the former Protestant church of Dysart may now be seen, as a
comparatively modern rum. When Sir Charles Coote wrote his Statistical
Survey of the Queen's County, in 1801, he describes Dysart church, as standing
44 on one of the iotty hills of the same name, with a square tower or steeple,
which has a very picturesque appearance". Chap. ix. § iv. p. 117. An
ancient graveyard is to be found there, even yet much resorted to for the in-
terment of deceased Catholics. No doubt, the very old parish church occupied
St. ^Kngusius Hagibgraphus. 107
It is indeed very certain — as a distinguished Irish scholai and
most devoted Catholic1 well observes — that St. Aengus Ceile
De2 cannot be set down for an ignorant nor a superstitious
monk; but, on the contrary, he must ever be regarded as a
gifted writer, deeply read in the Holy Scriptures, and in the
civil and ecclesiastical history of the world. He was especially
versed in that historic lore contained in what he calls enthusi-
astically " The Host of the Books of Erinn". Taking the
Festology of St. Aengus as a purely historic tract, largely in-
terwoven with the early civil and ecclesiastical history of
Ireland, there is probably no European country which possesses
so early a national document and one of a character so im-
portant. A great number of the primitive Christian inhabitants
and strangers, in our island, have been introduced by name
into this valuable treatise. Their festival days, with copious
references to the early denominations and exact situations of
our old churches and monasteries, severally founded by many
of them, are accurately given; and already, by means of this
tract, if not all, at least nearly all, of these foundations may be
or have been identified, by competent archaeologists. His
other writings are hardly less valuable for their historic, national,
and religious interest.
The truly learned are ever truly humble. But to raise this
latter qualification to the degree of heroic virtue requires a
special intervention of the spirit of wisdom. Towards our
saint, God's choicest graces appear to have been vouchsafed.
From his early years, he was gifted with a docile mind, an
ardent love of true perfection, humility of disposition, an un-
derstanding capable of comprehending a wide circle of science,
human and divine, with an imagination, fervid, brilliant, chaste,
and correct, as ever gifted a poet. Our Church and country
have received no inconsiderable services from the literary labours
and learning of this saint, while his life had been beautifully
and edifyingly consistent with his teaching and acquirements.
this site. From or near this elevated position, the ruins of Clonenagh's
" seven churches"1 are clearly visible under favouring circumstances.
1 See Professor Eugene O'Curry's Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of
Ancient Irish History, Lect. xvii., p. 370.
2 In a contribution to the Gentleman's Magazine for the month of July, 1865,
the following remarks may be found, on the Irish term ceite -oe, Anglicised
Culdee. It is ".used by our annalists to denote a monk or friar, even at a com-
paratively modern period of our history. In o:Donovaii's Annals of the Four
Masters, at the year 1595, we find an application of such term to the Domini-
cans in Sligo monastery. The reader, who desires the fullest accumulated
testimonies and learned investigation, in reference to the Culdees, will examine
the researchful contribution of the Kev. William Reeves, in Transactions of the
Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxiv. It has since been published as a separate tract,
entitled, The Culdees of the British Islands, as they appear in History, with an
Appendix of Evidences ,• Dublin. 1864".
108 Association of Prayer
Some men possess dazzling qualities and acquire renown in
this world, while their minds and dispositions are cold, vitiated,
and corrupt; they may shine among their fellow-mortals, as^the
skin of the venomous snake or crawling reptile appears radiant
with variegated colours, under the rays of a bright sun. On
the contrary, in solitude and retirement, wishing to avoid the
applause or rewards of the world, under a rude garb and
exterior, our saint, like the ^low-worm, luminous even through
the darkness of night, has diffused a steady and an undiminished
li<*ht over the obscurity of our scattered ecclesiastical records
and traditions, in his own time and for preceding ages. He
has likewise transmitted to us some of the most venerable
remains of our ancient aud holy literature, so long and so pro-
videntially preserved in Ireland and in more distant countries.
Let us hope, that under the careful editorship of a competent
Irish scholar, these fragments will be gathered ere they perish,
that they will be committed to type, published, and thus ren-
dered accessible to the generality of readers. While such
documents serve to excite and sustain our religious feelings,
they also fan the spirit of patriotism, and serve to extend still
more the real fame of our beloved country. The holy Aengus
Ceile De laboured wisely and well in his generation. He has
left to this day and to all succeeding generations, the heritage
of his zeal, his learning, his genius, his virtues, and his noble
e xample.
ASSOCIATION OF PRAYER FOR THOSE
ADDICTED TO INTEMPERANCE.
SIDE by side with the virtues of high order which incontes-
tably adorn the character of our people, there exist, unfortu-
nately, some dark and painful defects. Among these the vice
of drunkenness stands sadly prominent, not only by reason of
its intrinsic turpitude, but also as being the source of almost all
the crime and of much of the misery which have laid waste this
fair land. We do not mean to dwell here upon the enormity of
this vice, nor even to examine into the causes which have con-
tributed to extend its ravages amongst us. There is, however,
one feature connected with it upon which it will serve our pur-
pose to dwell for a little. Those who are best acquainted with
our people agree in admitting that among them the habit of
drinking is contracted not so much through malice as through
for those addicted to Intemperance. 109
weakness. The genial spirit of our warm-hearted people in-
clines them to conviviality; and mistaken hospitality on the
one hand, and human respect on the other, not unfrequently
lead to breaches of temperance. The downward course, which
in all vices is proverbially rapid, is still more so in the present
case. Temporary conversions are followed by relapses, which
by degrees beat down the barriers, until what at first was, per-
haps, the result of a momentary weakness, becomes a most im-
perious passion.
The vice of drunkenness does not decrease in our midst. The
Archbishop of Westminster lately affirmed without hesitation,
before a committee of the House of Commons, that, as far as
England was concerned, it was decidedly on the increase ; and
some of the best authorities in England have confirmed his
statement. We fear much that the same is true of Ireland. The
evil is so insidious that it saps all the barriers which rank, wealth,
position, sex even, would naturally place in the way to check
its ravages. Two obvious facts, at least, tell their own tale. The
amount of capital invested in liquor traffic goes on daily in-
creasing. The immense army of public houses which subsists
upon the scanty earnings of the poor, swells its numbers day by
day. The public revenue resulting from this branch of trade,
far from diminishing, is steadily growing. These two facts are
eloquent of themselves, and appeal to all those who have at heart
the welfare of the people.
Nor have they appealed in vain. As the evil has increased in
magnitude, so have the efforts made by good men to counteract
it been multiplied in number and efficiency. From Father
Mathew's day to our own, there has been an unbroken line of
zealous apostles of temperance, who have toiled incessantly in the
good cause. The world has witnessed and admired the results
achieved by the Archbishop of Cashel, and by the Bishops of
Ferns and of Kilmore, towards putting an end to Sunday traffic m
liquor. The example of these illustrious prelates has been followed
by many zealous parish priests of other dioceses, whose efforts have
been crowned with a success which, though merely local, has been
equally splendid. The pledge ; the Crusade, especially as directed
by Father Richardson ; and other organizations, have been most
efficient. Nor have legislative measures been neglected. The
Permissive Prohibitory Liquor Bill has obtained the approval of
the best of our public men. And thus, against intemperance we
find arrayed in one zealous and active army, energies public and
private, influences ecclesiastical and political, whilst members of
tens of thousands of afflicted households follow with their hopes
and prayers the united efforts of them all.
All this is excellent, and more than excellent. St. Ignatius
HO Association of Prayer
counsels those who have any work to perform, that they them-
selves should do every thing in their power to secure its success
as if they expected no help from heaven, and at the same time
to look only to heavenly help for their success as if they had
done nothing of themselves. Has enough been done hitherto
to carry out the second portion of this counsel? According
to Catholic principles, the whole matter lies in a nutshell.
Not one of these organizations will be ^ productive of real
and lasting good, unless it be made fruitful by the dew of
heavenly grace. Without grace they will not last, or, if
they do retain a cold and formal life, they will have no virtue
to curb the wayward impulses of the intemperate. No effi-
ciency without grace ; no grace, ordinarily speaking, without
prayer. But the falling, the fallen, and the desperate, do they
pray ? do they pray for themselves in the moment of their sorest
need? Alas! no. The very root of the evil in Ireland is, as we
have seen, weakness of will ; and weak wills lack the Christian
vigour of persevering prayer.
"But the Spirit of God, which teaches Catholics to bear one
another's burthens, has raised up helpers for those who are
hardly willing to ask help for themselves. Somewhat more
than a year ago a few pious individuals belonging to the Con-
vent of the Sacred Heart at Armagh undertook to try if a means
solely spiritual might not do something towards diminishing the
appalling evils wrought in Ireland and elsewhere through intem-
perance. The idea sprang from repeated words, and exhorta-
tions more and more earnest towards the close of his life, of the
late saintly Primate of all Ireland, the Most Rev. Dr. Dixon.
These words and exhortations were but the expressions of the
virtue with the perfume of which his whole life was fragrant:
Faith in prayer. In February, 1866, he wrote thus to the leader
of the movement :
" Other troubles must also -vanish before prayer, for there is
no obstacle to our true happiness which prayer will not over-
come, as He cannot deceive who said : 'All things whatever
you ask, when you pray, believe that you shall receive, and they
shall come unto you'. Hence, if we see new troubles in the
distance, we must only continue to follow the invitation of our
Lord, ' Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full'.
And at the end of all, in that land where we know our own,
we shall sing a song of triumph over the memory of each diffi-
culty surmounted here below. We want faith in prayer ! we
want faith in prayer !"
The seed thus sown by him fell upon a grateful soil, and he
lived to see and to bbss its first tender growth.
for those addicted to Intemperance. Ill
In due time the first thought ripened into a plan. In April
and May, 1867, an association was fully organized and approved
by the present Primate, his Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Kieran, to
whose first pastoral, pointing to intemperance as one of the
main sources of Ireland's woes, the new undertaking was a re-
sponse. The following prospectus was published:
" UNDER THE PROTECTION OF OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART,
WHO IS SPECIALLY INVOKED IN DESPERATE CASES.
" A few Christians, bearing the title of ' Children of Mary',
encouraged by the words of his Grace in the Pastoral Letter for
Lent (speaking of intemperance as a vice that is now doing
much harm to Ireland), have proposed an Association of Prayer
as a means of combating the evil.
" So many things are tried to do good to our dear country:
why should not prayer — United Prayer — Prayer with Faith —
be thrown into the balance ?
" Spiritual contributions alone are solicited ; the offering to
God of daily duties well performed ; any act of patience, for-
bearance, charity, or mercy; an alms; a visit to the Blessed
Sacrament; any prayer, however, short: — above all, a Mass
offered, or caused to be offered, for the living or the dead, but
with a view to forward the threefold end of the Association,
namely :
" 1st, To preserve and save those that are beginning to tam-
per with the allurements of intemperance.
" 2nd, To obtain the conversion of those habitually addicted
to this vice.
" 3rd, To save from sudden and unprovided death those who
are singularly in danger from intemperance.
" Each person joining the Association should promise to do
something — daily or weekly, etc., — or once for all, if found less
irksome. What is undertaken should be noted on each one's
Billet of Association.
" His Grace has approved the Association; and his Eminence,
Cardinal Cullen, has sent its promoters a special blessing. There
is also a well grounded hope of obtaining indulgences by-and-
bye, to reward the zeal of the associates.
"Armagh, first Friday of May, 1867".
After a year's trial and success, the founders of the Associa-
tion sought and obtained the blessing of the Holy Father on
their work. We publish the Rescript :
" Beatissimo Padre !
" Alcune persone pie, avutane 1' approvazione dell' Illustris-
112 Association of Prayer
simo Monsignor Kieran, Arcivescovo di Armagh e Primate di
tutta 1' Irlanda, e animate dal benvolere dell' Eminentissimo Car-
dinale Cullen, Arcivescovo di Dublino e Delegate Apostolico,
come pure di piil altri Vescovi, hanno^ cercato di fare una Pia
Unione di Preghiera, in forma di Sodalita, per placare il Signore
tanto offeso in tal paese e in tutto il Regnp Britannico col vizio
dell' ubbriachezza, sorgente e cagione di tanti altri peccati e
pericoli, e per ottenere, dalla Divina Maesta grazie di preserva-
zione e di converzione per tante anime periclitanti. Ora gli
aggregati umilmente prostrati ai piedi di Vostra Santita chieg-
gono per cotesta opera la Benedizione Apostolica, e per tutti
quegli che vi si sono uniti, o vi si riuneranno, le sequenti Indul-
genze, applicabili, per via di suffragio alle anime del Purgatorio.
44 1. Cento giorni d' Indulgenza per ciascuna opera pia, fatta
per i fini della Sodalita.
" 2. Sette anni e sette quarantene ogni volta, die facendosi
promotore dell' opera qualcuno procurera che dieci persone si
riuniscono alia Sodalita.
" 3. L' Indulgenza plenaria, purche confessati e communicati,
preghino secondo 1' intenzione del Sommo Pontefice, nelle
seguenti Feste : — Cioe, del S. Cuore di Gesu ; del Santissirno
Nome di Gesu ; delle cinque Piaghe ; del Preziosissimo Sangue ;
dell' Esaltazione della Sta. Croce ; del Cuor Purissimo di Maria ;
dello Sposalizio; di Maria Auxilium Christianorum; della Me-
desima intitolata Nostra Signora del Sacro Cuore (31 Maggio);
nelle feste di San Patrizio, Protettore dell' Irlanda ; di San Gior-
gio, Protettore dell' Inghilterra, edi San Andrea, Protettoie della
Scozia".
" Ex Audientia Sanctissimi, die 26 Julii, 1868.
" Sanctissimus Dominus Noster, Pius, Divina Providentia
Papa IX., referente me infrascripto S. C. de Propaganda Fide
Secretario, expetitas indulgentias benigne concessit ad quinquen-
nium juxta petita, adjectis tamen quoad primum et secundum
aliquibus piis precibus, quas pro Indulgentiis plenariis sub nu-
mero tertio expressis lucrandis, fideles confessi et Sacra Eucha-
ristia refecti. recitare debent in eadem Ecclesia, in qua commur
nionem recipient.
44 Datum Romae, ex Aedibus dictae S. Congregationis die et
anno predictis.
'* Gratis sine ulla solutione quocumque titulo.
" JOANNES SIMEONI, Secretarius.
[" Concordat cum originali :
$4 " Michael Kieran,
" Archiepiscopus Armacanus, tot. Hib. Primas."]
For those addicted to Intemperance. 113
In virtue of this Rescript, the members of the Association may
gain the following indulgences :
1st, One hundred days' indulgence for every good work, ac-
companied by prayer, done for the ends of the Association.
2nd, Seven years and seven quarantines, to be gained by any
member who shall enrol ten other persons in the Association,
provided some prayer be said (after obtaining the ten names)
to gain the indulgence.
3rd, A plenary indulgence, on the usual conditions, on each
of the following feasts : The Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Precious
Blood, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Holy Name of
Jesus, the Five Wounds, the Most Pure Heart of Mary, the
Espousals of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph, Auxilium
Christianorum (May 24th), Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (May
31st), St. Patrick, Patron of Ireland; St. George, Patron of
England ; and St. Andrew, Patron of Scotland.
To gain these plenary indulgences, the prayers usually offered
up for the intentions of his Holiness must be said in the church
in which communion has been received.
That the Holy Father should have granted those liberal indul-
gences is a more eloquent argument in recommendation of the
Association than any words of ours. We hope to see it warmly
taken up by the clergy, the religious communities, and the
faithful of Ireland.1 What powerful forces for good might not
be put in motion to resist intemperance, by even one Hail Mary
or Salve Regina, from every Catholic in the three kingdoms or
in Ireland ! Few indeed can say that they have no friend in
danger. And in any case many of our brothers in the faith and
fellow-countrymen need our prayers. Let the strong, then, aid
the weak, and let the weak, even the weakest, avail themselves
of the help this Association gives them to do something for
themselves.
1 Letters containing requests for prayers or aggregation to the Association
may be addressed to the Secretary, Sacred Heart Convent, Armagh. No offer-
ing in money is accepted, but those zealous for the cause may assist in paying
the expenses of printing, etc.
VOL. V
The late Abbe Le HIT
THE AUTHENTICITY OF I. JOHN, v. 7.
(Continued from p. 29.)
V. 5. " WHO is he that overcometh the world, but he that be-
lieveth that Jesus is the Son of God?"
This verse contains a dogmatic assertion, " Jesus is the Son of
God", which. assertion is to be proved more completely in the
following verses, but which is already sufficiently demonstrated
by the effects which follow from firm belief in its truth. The
holiness of life which marks the orthodox believers in that doc-
trine, contrasted with the libertine excesses^ of the pretended
conquerors of the world, proves that the victory over hostile
powers, and therefore the possession of truth, belongs to the
former and not to the latter.
V. 6. " This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ :
not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit
which testifieth that Christ is the truth".
He is the person described in v. 6, namely, Jesus Christ. Some
consider that this pronoun is connected grammatically with the
word Son of God; it is this Son of God who came. They
remark that to advance the proposition, " Jesus came by water
and blood", is to advance a truism which had no need of proof,
and was never denied by the adversaries. What was denied
was that the Son of God came thus ; and consequently it was
this point that needed proof. This remark is just, but it is not
accurately applied. The phrase o eAflwv, he that came, with the
article, is equivalent to a substantive designating the Messiah.
The meaning therefore is : this one (this Jesus) is the Messiah
promised and expected for so many ages. He is come ; and in-
stead of calling him as before, 6 ipyonivoq, lie who is to come,
we are now to style him 6 tAOwv, since his coming is an histori-
cal fact. To remove all ambiguity, the author adds these words:
Jesus Christ; the word Jesus being referred to the subject, and
the word Christ, to the attribute. This one (Jesus) is he who is
come, the Christ.
The words: this is he that came by water and blood, not by
water only, but by water and blood, are more difficult of explana-
tion.
Among the many opinions on this subject, three claim special
attention. According to the first, the apostle alludes to our
Saviour's baptism in the Jordan, and the bloody baptism of His
Passion, of which He Himself said in the Gospel, " baptismo
habeo baptizari". According to the second, the«e words have
reference to the water and blood that flowed on the cross from
on the Authenticity of I. John, v. 7. 115
the Redeemer's side. The third opinion refers the passage more
directly to Christian baptism, and to the Sacrament of the
Eucharist.
Each of these opinions has its probability, and is sup-
ported by very good arguments drawn from grammar, logical
sequence, and from the historical circumstances in which the
author was placed. All three more or less agree with the
apostle's scope. And yet, not one of them appears to me to
correspond to it fully and directly. The fact of "the Incarna-
tion itself is what the author here affirms. In the language of
the Scripture, to come, or to come into the world, means one and
the same thing. Ego veni ut vitam habeant. Venit filius lio-
minis salvum facer e quod per ier at. To come in the flesh (ev vapKt,
and not ei'e rr)v <rapKa) is a phrase peculiar to St. John, and
which expresses precisely the idea of the hypostatic union
between the divine nature and the flesh. Why, then, should
not the phrase, " to come in water and blood, lv vSart »cat
a^art", have the same force ? When the sacred writer makes
mention here of these two substances, he does so with the visible
desire of combating the errors of the Gnostics, who refused to
believe that He was united with water, except with some kind
of watery, mystic, celestial essence, and who refused much more
to believe that He was connected with blood.
Since this error, by denying the Incarnation, entirely over-
turned the dogma of redemption, and, moreover, destroyed the
Christian idea of Baptism and of the Eucharist, it was fitting
that St. John should extirpate the evil from its very root, and
this he effects in the present place.
It may be objected that St. John has written not only cv
vSari KO.I Iv arapKi, but also Si vSaroc KUL aifiarog. But this
use of Sta is readily accounted for. Water and blood, or in
other words, human nature indicated by these elements, are the
means through which Christ has drawn near to us, has become
our brother, and entered into the world. This explains the
use of that particle, without violence or ellipse. The apostle,
however, immediately afterwards substitutes in its stead the
particle as being more expressive and more direct against the
error he condemns
This explanation is the only one which can be sustained
without supposing an ellipse, and this tells strongly in its favour.
In every other explanation that has been given, a verb of some
kind is more or less arbitrarily introduced! to bring out the force
of the preposition. He came, they say, to bear witness, to
exercise His ministry, to redeem and sanctify men by water and
by blood. Which of all these expressions conveys the apostle's
thought? He would have filled up the ellipse himself, if any
SB
Tlie late Abbe Le Hir
one of these meanings were his. I admit, however, that the
three above mentioned explanations belong to the apostle's
meaning, but only in an indirect manner. In the first place,
there is a clear allusion to the words of the Gospel: " Unus
militum", etc. The strong assertion he makes to the effect that
the Son of God was united to blood and water, has reference
to the testimony of His own senses, and to what He saw on
Calvary. This, among several other circumstances, may be a
proof that the epistle was not written independently of the
Gospel. Next, it is certain that St. John did not separate the
idea of redemption by blood from that of the Incarnation of the
-Word, and that in establishing the latter dogma, his chief object
is to give a solid basis to the other. This appears from the
epistle itself, in which he insists so strongly on the expiatory
value of the blood of Jesus Christ. Finally, we cannot doubt
that he wished here and in the Gospel, to establish the dogma
of Baptism and especially of the Eucharist, which were so dis-
torted by the heretics. We have spoken of their doctrine
concerning Baptism. Let us quote the following text: 'H yap
tirayyfXfa TOV \ovTpov OVK a'AArj rig e<m Kar avrouc* fi TO
tlaayayitv etc Trjv apapavrov ^Sovrjv TOV AouojUtVov KO.T avroi/c
£WVTI vSart KOI xpto/ievov aAaiccu xpto-juari (Philosoph. p. 140,
de Naassenis). And to this let us add what St. Ignatius says
of them concerning the Eucharist: they abstain from it, he
says, because they do not acknowledge it to be the blood of the
Son of God.
We now come to the passage : " and it is the spirit which
testifieth, for the spirit is the truth". Thus the Greek; the
Vulgate has : " that Christ is the truth, quoniam Christus est
veritas". Now, the latter form is not pertinent to the present
scope, which is, not to throw light on the relations between
Christ the Son of God and the truth, but on His relations with
the humanity He had assumed. It would be better to read,
" that Jesus is the truth", which reading, although it is found
in St. Augustine's Speculum, has not sufficient critical support.
The Greek reading, which has been generally adopted, is better
in every respect. St. John had frequently appealed to the
testimony which the Spirit gives to the Church and to souls
that are docile to His grace. He here returns to it once more
and with greater solemnity. Although the name veritas is more
usually applied to the Word, it is here justified by the writer's
object, which is to show the impossibility of false testimony.
The phrase is not more surprising than others, such as, God is
light, God is charity, which the apostle employs and diversifies
according to circumstances and the nature of his subject In
this place it prepares the reader for the development which St.
on the Authenticity of I. John, v. 7. 117
John is to give to this general assertion, and which is the
subject of the following two verses.
V. 7. "And there are three who give testimony in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three
are one".
V. 8. " And there are three that give testimony on earth ;
the spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three are
one.
This declaration, already so evident, that " the Spirit is
truth", might appear to have no need of proof or of explana-
tion of any kind. If, however, the apostle should wish to add
any such proof, he should do so in a manner worthy of the ,
God whose rights he defends. Our Lord did not disdain to
have recourse to the law of Moses, who said: " In ore duorum
vel trium testium stabit omne verbum". "Testimonium duorum
verum est". But, through respect for His quality of Son of
God, He wished to add to His own personal witness the witness
of none other save that of His Father; and if at times He
appealed to the testimony of John the Baptist, He took care
always to add a qualifying phrase: "Habeo testimonium majus
Joanne ; testimonium ab hominibus non accipio, sed haec dico
ut salvi sitis". Should it not, then, be surprising if His most
faithful disciple, who had most thoroughly entered into His
spirit and doctrine, would be so ready to place on the same
level the testimony of God, who is truth itself, and the testimony
of water and blood? Now, this will inevitably follow, if the
seventh verse be suppressed. On the contrary, if it be admitted
as authentic, the entire discourse proceeds in a broad, natural,
well-ordered connection, full of dignity and majesty, and such
as might be expected from St. John. The Spirit is the truth,
unexceptionable not only in itself, but also according to the
letter of the law. For its testimony is not a solitary one. It
is identical with the testimony of the two other Divine Per-
sons. There are three witnesses, really distinct each from each,
and yet but one testimony, because there is but one divine
substance, which is truth itself. And it is only after having
carried us aloft to the heights where God dwells, that he gra-
dually brings us back to the earth, and appeals to the subsidiary
testimony of the Church as to an echo of that of God Himself.
This process is perfectly in keeping with the spirit of St. John.
I open his Gospel, and I read: "Ille (Spiritus Sanctus) tes-
timonium perhibebit de me: et vos testimonium perhibebitis
quia ab initio mecum estis". Here we have the testimony of
the disciples coming after that of the Spirit, but not in the
same rank, nor with equal authority. Here is the earthly-
testimony, the weak, but clear and distinct echo of that in ,
heaven.
11 8 The late Abbe Le Hir
From this general though confused view of the passage, we
may gather how appropriate is verse 7. Let us now enter a
little more into detail, and discuss its terms one by one.
It has been objected to verse 7, that its style does not agree
with St. John's. The apostle is wont to employ together the
names of God and of the Word, or of the Father and the Son;
but the names of Father and of the Word are never correlative
in his writings. Moreover, it has been urged that the^ words,
" the Holy Spirit", savour of the glosses, since St. John is wont
to speak of the Spirit without any epithet. Besides, it is urged
that the words, in heaven, are without meaning in this verse,
since a testimony rendered in heaven must be inaccessible and
consequently completely useless to men.
The first of these objections is not without weight, but it is
urged too absolutely. In the beginning of his epistle, St. John
' speaks of the Word of Life, and then more briefly still of the
Life itself, which was in the Father, with the Father, irpoQ TOV
Trartpa, and has appeared to us. Here we have the name
Father used correlatively with the names Life or Word of
Life; for these two appellations are designedly united here as
in the preface to the Gospel, the only difference being in the
use of the term Father here, instead of the word God as in the
Gospel. Why, therefore, could not St. John do in the fifth
chapter of his epistle what he did in the first ? Especially since
he had particular reasons for adopting a term, which, on the one
hand, being more incommunicable to man than that of Son,
more clearly set forth the divine nature of Him whom it de-
scribed, and on the other, is more directly connected with the
idea of witnessing.
And after all, the employment of the word Aoyog in an
enumeration of the Three Divine Persons is so foreign to the
traditional usages of language, that it would be much more sur-
prising as coming from a glosser than as coming from St. John.
It could be attributed to an interpolator only on the hypothesis
of a premeditated attempt to imitate the style of St. John. Such
an attempt would be not only unskilful but also fraudulent. It
appears to be the opinion of Dr. Huther, that this attempt was
made ; but a charge so serious requires solid proof, and is rejected
by Griesbach himself, who attributes the addition of verse 7 as
the result of a mere mistake, and of the ignorance of some
copyist.1
As to the epithet Holy, joined to the word Spirit, the exami-
1 Griesbach, however, appears to suspect the good faith of Vigilius Tapsensis,
to whom he would attribute the supposed interpolation of this passage. Buc
t e docs not dare to bring this accusation forward ; he goes no further than lu
malignantly insinuate it.
on the Authenticity of 1. John, v. 7. 119
nation of parallel passages from St. John would be necessary to
enable us to decide the question ; but as he nowhere else men-
tions the three adorable names together, it is not easy to come
to any trustworthy conclusion. Is it not probable that St. John
used the term Holy Ghost in pronouncing the form of baptism,
and that, consequently, this expression was familiar to him,
although not one of the phrases commonly used by him in his
writings? Besides, even if we were to admit that this word is
an addition of the copyist's,1 there is a wide difference between
the addition of an unnecessary word, and the interpolation of an
entire sentence.
The third objection has still less weight. For, without
having recourse to the construction " there are three in heaven
who give testimony", which is natural enough, and completely
disposes of the difficulty, and retaining the sense of the testi-
mony in heaven, we ask what more natural than to compare
that testimony to the thunder that speaks in the heavens so as to
be heard by men on earth ? Was it not thus that the voice of
the Holy Spirit, like an impetuous wind, sounded over the
supper-room? And even when the Word, by His miracles, was
proving His own divinity, when in His ascension He was
raised aloft in glory in the air, or when from the height of
heaven He fulfilled His promise of sending the Consoler Spirit
upon His apostles, did not all these manifestations of His power
issue from the heavens, where he has never, even for a single
instant, ceased to reside on His eternal throne ?
I might add to these remarks the verse of Isaias (cap. xxxiv.
5), where the Lord, speaking of the avenging sword He has
drawn against the Idumeans, thus expresses Himself: " Ine-
briatus est in coelo gladius meus : ecce super Idumeam descen-
dit", etc. Whether we say of this passage that since God is in
heaven, the sword He holds in His hand is there likewise,
although its point touches the earth ; or whether we prefer to
think that heaven everywhere follows the throne of the Lord,
and that when God descends to men, heaven descends with
Him ; or whatever other explanation we have recourse to, it is not
more difficult to apply it to the verse of St. John than to that of
the prophet.2
There is, therefore, no serious difficulty in connection with
verse 7. I do not venture to say the same regarding verse 8.
1 The word Sanctus is wanting in the most ancient texts.
2 There is, however, one explanation which if true would destroy the analogy
I appeal to. Somebody has said that the sword was inebriated in heaven, not
witii blood and carnage, but with some aromatic liquor, as a warrior strengthens
himself before the battle. Ps. Ixxvii. 65. " Excitatus est Dominus tanquam
jioteus crupulatus a vino". But the application of such a metaphor to a sword
is too forced and foreign to Biblical usage to demand any attention from us.
120 ?%« l<*te Abbe Le Hir
Obscure in itself, it has the additional disadvantage of breaking
the natural connection of verse 7 with verse 9, so that if, on
intrinsic grounds alone, some interpolation should be admitted,
we should be induced to consider verse 8 rather than verse 7 to
have been introduced into the text. What is the Spirit men-
tioned in verse 8? If it is not the Holy Spirit, the connection
with verse 6, where, as we have shown, He is spoken of, is vio-
lently broken. If it be the Holy Spirit, how is He placed on
the same level as water and blood ?
And to what do the water and blood witness? In verse 8
they were named, not as witnesses, but as an object requiring
testimony for itself, and receiving testimony from the Spirit.
Could it be true, that in spite of appearances, verse 8 is at
open variance with verse 6, and that its insertion is due to a
desire of casting a veil over the deepest mysteries? The ex-
treme care which the Christians of the second and third cen-
turies took to hide from profane eyes the dogma of the Adorable
Trinity, is well known to all. All are acquainted with the pre-
caution used by the pastors of the earliest time, never to com-
mit to writing certain formulas of consecration. The Jews and
early Christians alike were accustomed to veil under a strange
name the object of which they were speaking. In the New
Testament, Egypt and Babylon designate the pagan world,
the Roman Empire, or the city of Rome itself. In the Cab-
bala, which is but a form of the Gnosis, the first Triad, corres-
ponding to the Christian Trinity, is designated under a thousand
different names, such, as the names of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, or under the three elements of which the breath is com-
posed, namely, air, water, and fire (warmth), three things
which make but one.
Could we not suppose that, towards the second century, the
custom of having recourse to this kind of technical memory in
copying St. John's text came gradually into use, and that, in
this wise, the formula of verse 8 was not added, but substituted
for that of verse 7 ? And might not this be the cause of that
remarkable unanimity on the part of the ancient Fathers, who
discover the Holy Trinity in the three witnesses of verse 8 ?
This supposition, if it were necessary to have recourse to it,
would have the advantage of freeing the Church from the re-
proach of having lightly admitted a remarkable interpolation in
the sacred text. There would no longer be any interpolation
properly so called, but a simple repetition in enigmatical terms
of the proposition before announced in its proper and natural
terms. The only change to be made in the text would be the
omission of the words in coelo in terra, which, in themselves, are
not essential, and al out which the manuscripts vary.
on the Authenticity of L Jolm, v. 7. 121
But although we throw out this theory for the benefit of those
critics who reject verse 7, we do not intend to avail ourselves of
it for our own purpose. It is not necessary ; and in spite of the
difficulties we have alluded to, it is not hard to explain the con-
nection between verse 7 and verse 8.
The Holy Spirit may, in truth, be considered under a twofold
aspect. In Himself, as a Divine person, consubstantial with the
Father and the Son, He renders a direct testimony to the doc-
trines of the Incarnation and Redemption. As the life-giving
Spirit of the Church, speaking through and by the faithful, He
renders to the same truths an indirect testimony which is unex-
ceptionable. Now the Holy Spirit communicates Himself to
the Church through three sacraments which all the faithful re-
ceive, and which all were used to receive at the very moment
of their admission into the Christian community. These three
sacraments, Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation, are here
designated by the terms, of the Spirit, water, and blood. In
each of these mysteries the Spirit acts, but in various ways, and
these distinct graces, tending to form the one single faith and
perfection of the Christian's life, are as the voice of three wit-
nesses saying the same thing. The Spirit is named first, as being
the principal witness, to whom are added the other two. It is
well known, besides, that in the days of the apostles the grace
of confirmation, indicated by this term, frequently preceded the
reception of baptism, and manifested itself in miraculous effects,
as in the case of the centurion Cornelius, and those baptized
with him.
Let us now see how the sacraments indicated by the water
and blood, are connected in the interpretation we have given,
with verse 6.
When the apostle so strongly affirms that Christ was united
to water and' blood, he manifestly refers to what he himself had
seen on Mount Calvary. The Gospel narrative of the passion
is, therefore, the hinge on which this corresponding passage of
the epistle is made to turn. Now it is this water and blood that
St. John appeals to in verse 8. The purifying water of bap-
tism is that which the Saviour shed, since it communicates its
power to the natural water in which the catechumen is bathed.
The blood that nourishes us in the Eucharist is literally the very
blood that flowed upon the cross. If, therefore, the Church
derives from Baptism and the Eucharist the grace of knowing
and of loving, the strength to confess what she believes, to live
and to die for what she loves, this marvellous grace, this strength,
passing the strength of man, become so many invincible pledges
that the material elements capable of effecting these divine re-
sults are really the flesh, the water, and the blood belonging to
122 The late AU^Le Hir
God Thus verse 8 is contained in germ in verse G, and is but
its development. Jesus has given to the Church the water
blood, and Spirit that issued from Him, the water and blood
visibly from His side, the Spirit from His lips, when He said:
" Receive the Holy Ghost"; and these three things together are
not identical, but tend towards the same end, namely, to con-
summate the union of the faithful between themselves and with
God, in the profession of one and the same faith, and the ardour
of the same love : " Et hi tres in unum sunt", tic TO cv tlm. The
Vulgate has unum without the prepositions; but the Greek
reading is preferable. Although the three earthly ^ witnesses
resemble by agreement of their testimony the three witnesses in
heaven, yet they are not one in substance ; there is harmony,
not rigorous unity, in their testimony, and St. John has not
neglected this peculiarity.
This interpretation of verse 8 has nothing of forced about it,
if verse 7 be retained in its place. The apostle has been guided
by the taste for parallelism, so deeply rooted in the Jewish mind,
that it forms the basis of their poetry and of their poetical prose.
This love of symmetry explains how the tres sunt is in the mascu-
line, whilst the three nouns that express in the Greek, water,
blood, and Spirit, are neuter ; it likewise explains how this idea
of appealing to the testimony of water and blood, which in
verse 6 is still obscure and undefined, becomes fully developed in
verse 8.
Was I wrong then in laying down in the beginning of this
paper, as my second assertion, that although verse 6 may, abso-
lutely speaking, be united to verse 8, if verse 7 be removed
irom the text, this removal (of verse 7) would seriously injure
the harmony and fulness of St. John's teaching, and the profun-
dity of his meaning ?
The third assertion is, that verse 7 is necessary to explain
verses 9 and 10, which without it remain, as it were, suspended
without support on which to rest.
The proof is short and easy. Verses 9, 10, speak three or
four times of the testimony which God the Father has rendered
to His Son, of the injury which wouldbe done to the Son by
refusing to believe that testimony, and of the impossibility of
separating the Father from the Son in acts of adoration, laith,
and love. The apostle does not speak in the tone of one who
would prove his arguments, but of one who insists upon a proof
already established, and who by appeals addressed to the con-
science urges his hearers to adhere to the known truth. Now
the laws of reasoning require that there should be found in the
preceding verses some mention of this testimony of the Father.
.But where is it to be found save in verse 7 ? Dr. Huther has
on the Authenticity 'of I. John, v. 7. 12
not paid attention to this point, and has not observed that the
words viog avrou, filius ejus, cannot possibly be understood of
the Holy Spirit. And yet this is one of the most elementary
truths.1
THE CHURCH IN ABYSSINIA.
THJ modern history of the Church in Abyssinia is closely
linked with the apostolic career of the illustrious missionary
Justin de Jacobis. He was a member of the Congregation of
St. Vincent de Paul, and in September, 1839, for the first time
entered the Abyssinian territory, and took up his station in the
city of Adoua. He was, as yet, ignorant of the language of
the people, and knew but little of their tenets or prejudices.
He therefore resolved to await in patient silence, and to prepare
himself in the mean time, by a life of prayer and penance, to
cooperate with the merciful designs of Providence in regard to
that straying fold. The greater part of the day was spent by
him in prayer in the Abyssinian church ; the remainder was
devoted to acquire the languages of the country. Three chief
languages are spoken there : the Gheez, or sacred tongue ; the
Tigre; and the Amaric. Before four months had passed, M.
de Jacobis had succeeded in mastering these difficult and appa-
rently hopeless languages, and on the 26th of January, 1840,
he assembled together a number of the priests and people of
Adoua, and with an eloquence which touched every heart,
addressed them in the Amaric tongue. His discourse has
happily been preserved; it presented to his hearers, in all the
vividness of the oriental style, the object of his journey to
Abyssinia, and it disclosed at the same time the glowing ardour
of his zeal for the conversion of souls to God. It is as follows : —
" The mouth speaks the language of the heart, of which
1 Knopp, in a special dissertation on the meaning of these verses of St. John,
from which Dr. Huther has drawn some of his arguments, has seen the force of
this difficulty. To solve it he quotes the following passage from St. J. Chrysostom :
opaQ TrvtVfiaTog d%iav TO yap TOV Qtov tpyov (paivtTai, iroiovv ' Avwrepw fikv ovv
eXtytv OTI fee rovQtov eytvvrjOrjcrav. ivravOa Se or, TO Trvf.vp,a CLVTOVQ yevva
Horn. 25 in Joan. iii. 6. He concludes that the two expressions, " to be horn of
God", and " to be born of the Spirit", have almost the same force : fere tantum-
dem valent. A Socinian alone could imagine such an explanation. For although
these two phrases may be identical when referred to the adoptive son-ship of
Christians, one of them is absurd when referred to the true and natural generation
of the Son of God. How can the second person of the Trinity be the Son of the
third? See G. C. Knoppi Scripta varii Argument}, Ed. Secunda. Halis Saxouuui,
1823, t. i. p. 108.
124 The Church in Abyssinia.
the tongue is the key. When J open my mouth, I unlock the
door of my heart. Come and see how the Holy Spirit of God
has filled my soul with tender love for my Christian brothers in
Ethiopia. I was in my own land; there I heard about you. I
said to my father and to my mother, « Give me your blessing,
and I will go', 4 Whither?' they exclaimed, * I want to go to
my dear brothers in Abyssinia, and tell them how I love them.
Yes, I leave you, O my father ! I leave you, O my mother ! I
love you very much, but I love my brothers in Abyssinia more'.
Then did they answer me: ' But we shall never see you again !
The way is long — you must traverse the sea and the desert —
there are tempests and serpents and lions in your path'. And I
replied: 'No, we shall never meet again'; but they gave me
their blessing, and said : * Go, my son, where God calls you.
Go and see your Abyssinian brothers, and tell them that we also
love them, for we have sent them the son who is so dear to us'.
And then I knelt and cried, and received their blessing. O my
friends, what bitter tears we shed — they and I ! My eyes are still
dimmed with the thought. But the love I felt for you was so
strong — stronger than the parting — stronger than death itself!
1 shut my eyes, that I might not see their tears — I shut my ears,
that I might not hear their groans — and I went forth. In the
midst of storms and tempests, one cry only was in my heart :
* Lord, let me see my brothers in Abyssinia before I die !' In
the desert, amidst the wild beasts, one prayer only was on my lips :
* Lord, let me hear the Abyssinian voice ; and then, if Thou wilt,
I am ready to die.' God heard my petition — He preserved me
from all evil. Now I am here, and have seen you, and I am
content. Let Him grant me life, be it short or long ; as many
days as He gives me, I consecrate them to you : for it is for you
alone that He has given them to me. My life is in your hands.
If you wish for my blood, come, open my veins, and take it to
the last drop ; it is all yours ! To die by your hands would be
joy to me. But if you wish me to live, every hour of my life shall
be spent for you. For you I will pray, I will study, I will toil.
If you are sorrowful. 1 will come and comfort you in our dear
Lord's name ; if you are poor, I will help you for His sake ; if
you are naked, 1 will cover you with my own garments ; if you
are hungry, you shdi have my last bit ol bread ; if you are sick,
1 will come and nurse you, and watch by your bedside ; if you
wish me to teach you, I will impart to you all I know. I have
nothing left on earth — neither father, nor mother, nor home, nor
country. There only remain to me God and my brothers in
Abyssinia. Look into my heart and see ! Only He is there,
and you. For whom does my poor heart burn? For my Lord
and His Abyssinian children. Therefore, I will do what you
The Church in Abyssinia. 125
will. If you wish me to stay with you, I will stay; to go away
from you, I will go ; to speak in your churches, I will speak ; to
keep silence, I will be mute. I am a priest, preacher, and con-
fessor like you. Do you wish me to say Mass ? I will say it ; —
to hear confessions? I will do so; — to preach? I will do that
likewise. Do you wish me to leave it all alone ? I will then do
nothing. Now I have opened my heart to you, and placed the
key in your hands. If you ask me who I am, I can only answer :
* I am a Christian from Rome, who loves the Abyssinians'. If
any one inquires : ' Who is this stranger ?' you must answer :
* He is a European Christian, who loves the Ethiopian Christians
better than friends, or relations, or father, or mother ; for he has
left them all to come and tell them how he loves them'. I have
now been for four months in your country. You have seen and
known and conversed with me. Tell me if I have caused any
scandal, or done you any harm? I do not think so. But if I
have as yet done you no wrong, I have not until now been able
to do you any good. Now, I wish to change my conduct in this
respect. 1 want to be not only your fiiend, but your slave. I
wish to spend myself, and be spent, for you and yours. O my
Lord and Saviour, in whose presence I am, Thou knowest that I
lie not!" , . .
This first discourse of M. de Jacobis produced a most striking
effect. Already they had been surprised at seeing a stranger
passing his time heedless of commerce or worldly cares, but
wholly absorbed in prayer and conversing with God. They
had felt there was something saint-like about him, and his first
auditors soon became his messengers to gather together all the in-
habitants to hear from his lips the difference between his doctrine
and that of their own Coptic priests, for, such was the subject they
asked him to treat of when he next addressed them. The
following is a brief summary of this discourse, which he deli-
vered in a public conference, and which is extracted from his
own missionary journal: —
" After forty centuries of desire and sighs and tears on the
part of the Patriarchs and Prophets, appeared the Messiah.
What did He not do and suffer to bring men out of darkness
into His marvellous light? He founded His Church in His pre-
cious Blood. To this Church He gave a head, to be His Vicar
upon earth; and that head, as the Gospel tells you, was St.
Peter. After preaching in Antioch, and Pontus, and Cappa-
docia, and Bithynia, St. Peter established his see in Rome.
St. Mark accompanied him there, and was sent by him to
Alexandria. He died in the year 63; and then a successor
was appointed from Rome to fill the vacant see of Alexandria.
On this point we are all agreed; and in this belief the first
The Church in Abyssinia.
Patriarchs of Alexandria lived and died for 450 years ^ after
the death of Christ. A holy friendship, a close and intimate
relationship, existed, then, between the successors of St. Mark
and the successors of the see of Peter. ^They were united
by the most sacred ties. Listen to the voice of one of these
Patriarchs: * Whosoever does not acknowledge the Head of
the Church, does not belong to the Church ; whosoever is not
united to the see of Peter, he is as a withered branch of a tree
which men cast into fire, and it is burned'. And so they
spoke and wrote and taught for centuries. But then there
came a time of sorrow and division ; like the sons of Jacob, one
was hated by the rest, and sold and delivered up to strangers.
Yet that one became powerful and mighty, while the rest were
dying of hunger. And you, my brethren, how has it fared with
you? Where are your Patriarchs? where are your saints?
While Rome — ah ! I would I could take you there with me.
You would feel as your ancestress, the Queen of Sheba, did, on
beholding the glory of Solomon. Why have you been separated
from the parent tree ? Recollect what happened when Jacob's
children met again after their long and cruel separation. They
fell on one another's neck with tears, and made peace — a lasting
peace. Ah ! if we would but do the same, and have one faith,
one hope, one baptism I One faith ! the faith of Jesus Christ,
as preserved to us by His Vicar on earth. One love ! the love
of our Lord, as taught us in His Gospel. It is this faith and this
love which I am come to preach, and that not for the sake of
sordid gain or of gold. I seek for nothing ; I fear nothing.
Throw me into your vilest dungeon, deliver me up into the
hands of your most cruel executioner, and then ask me, ' What
I came to this country for ?' I shall answer, ' For the love of
you, my Abyssinian brothers, and to save your souls'. If my
words please you, what prevents our being one? I am a Roman
Catholic ; be the same, as your forefathers were ; and let us labour
together for this people, plunged in superstition and vice, and in
worse than pagan errors. If my plan displeases you, send for
the executioner. I am ready and glad to die for the faith of my
Lord and Master. The voice of my blood will mount to Heaven ;
but it will not call for vengeance on you, as did the blood of
Abel, but for mercy, like the Blood of Jesus, for whose love
I would joyfully give my life. And then our dear Lord will
send you another preacher, not laden with sins and infirmities
like myself, but holy and blameless and pure in His sight : and
he will say to you the same words as mine, for truth is one.
You will listen to his voice, and you will become one fold under
one Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord".
fume of this conference produced a wonderful sensation
The Church in Abyssinia. 127
in Adoua and throughout the sunounding territory. Many of
the Abyssinian dabtaras and priests exclaimed : " This stranger
is a holy man : he speaks the words of truth and reason : let him
be our father". A number of conversions soon followed, and
the first fruits of this distant mission were gathered into holy
Church.
We must, however, leave our zealous missionary for a little
while, till we learn some few particulars connected with the
actual condition of the country he was sent to evangelize. Our
guide shall be the distinguished traveller M. Antoine d'Abbadie,
who, by parentage, is closely allied to Ireland, and who, having
by twelve years' residence in Abyssinia acquired an intimate
knowledge of its people, became, in a manner, the precursor of
our holy Lazarist, and the means, under heaven, of securing his
appointment to the apostolate of that distant country.
A barren and desolate territory stretches along the shores of
the Red Sea, from Suez to the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. This
desert has but a few scattered towns, which owe their existence
to foreign commercial enterprise, and it is only after a three
days' journey into the interior that the traveller enters Abyssinia
proper, and meets with inhabited districts and cultivated fields.
Near Annesley Bay once stood the Grecian city Adoulis. The
natives still point out its site, and tradition tells that it was
swallowed up in an earthquake towards the close of the sixth
century of our era. A few carved capitals and some sculptured
marbles are the only remnants of its former grandeur. Not far
distant is the large village of Massowah, with its hundred cabins
and thousand inhabitants, so long the head quarters of the
British army in the late expedition against King Theodore.
In Abyssinia proper, civilization and native wealth are con-
centrated around Lake Tana. On the shores of this inland sea
stands Quarata, the largest city of oriental Africa, proud of its
sanctuaries and its twelve thousand inhabitants. A little further
on is Aringo, the cherished residence of the Abyssinian kings.
Near it is Dabra Tabor, the modern capital of Abyssinia; and
finally, on a spur of mountain which projects to the south, ap-
pears the once famous Gondar, which reckoned in former times
a population of thirty thousand. King Theodore systematically
burned this city to the ground, and of its seventeen churches,
the noblest monuments of its Christian greatness, only two escaped
his barbaric rage.
The territory of Abyssinia is divided among various indepen-
dent tribes, all, however, yielding a nominal allegiance to the
most powerful of its princes, who receives the proud title of
emperor. During the first years of the missionary career of De
Jacobis, Oubie, King of Tigre, bore this title of emperor; sub-
128 TJie 'Ch urch in A byss in ia.
sequently it was assumed by Theodore, who ruled the fertile
territory around Lake Tana. The Gallas or Oromos, the bravest
of the Ethiopic tribes, proclaimed, some years ago, their inde-
pendence, and their dominion now extends from the skirts of
Ma^dala far away into central Africa. In 1840 Ras-Ali was
king of Gondar; Tissu Gobaze now rules where that city stood,
and his sway extends from the lower Tigray to Dambya. The
population of all the united tribes of Abyssinia has been esti-
mated at six millions of inhabitants.
In the Abyssinian court and church the dabtaras hold a prin-
cipal place. Till a comparatively late period indeed this class was
unknown. They are laymen and have no orders, and they were
organized by the king as an intermediate class between the
spiritual order and the temporal : they sing in the choirs, com-
pose hymns for the festivals, and administer the temporalities of
the church. They keep the clergy in a sort of slavery, and their
power is so great that often, too, they are able to control the
ruling authorities of the state.
The abouna or bishop also rules with despotic sway over the
Abyssinian clergy. To prevent religious dissensions, only one
bishop is permitted throughout the whole empire: moreover, he
must be of the white race and a stranger to the country. On the
death of an abouna a deputation proceeds to the Alexandrian
patriarch, who resides in Cairo, to solicit the appointment of a
successor, and a large sum or fine has to be paid for such an ap-
pointment. The late Abouna Salama was a Copt by birth, and
had frequented in his youth the English Protestant school at
Cairo. He subsequently entered a schismatical monastery in
Egypt, where his incredulity and insubordination soon merited
for him the reprobation of the whole community. It was at this
time that a deputation arrived in Cairo soliciting an abouna for
Abyssinia. Thirty-six thousand francs were exacted as the price
of the new bishop, and the patriarch deemed himself fortunate in
being able to rid his monastery of an unruly subject, by raising
Salama to the exalted dignity of abouna in the despised and dis-
tant Abyssinia. Salama, in his new mission, gave loose reins to his
vices and vague doctrines; careless of all that regarded religion,
he devoted himself to commerce, and soon amassed considerable
wealth by his traffic in slaves. It was he that consecrated
Theodore king: but the monarch, weary of the political in-
trigues of the abouna, soon cast him into prison, where he died
a short time before the late expedition to Abyssinia.
The English Protestant missionaries, about the year 1830,
commenced their labours in Abyssinia. M. Gobat, a native of
Switzerland, and now Anglican bishop in Jerusalem, was the
first to penetrate into Gondar. He acquired some knowledge of
The Church in Abyssinia. 120
the language of the country, and published in Europe a very
flattering account of the success of his missionary labours. A
Dabtara, however, who had lived with him in Gondar, gave to
M. d'Abbadie a different account of these missions: " Samuel
Gobat", he said, " was a prepossessing person, who deceived one
at first. I, who followed him, can affirm that he was an un-
believer, or that he pretended to be so. He proposed frightful
doubts and objections in matters affecting the Christian religion,
but under the form of hypotheses. He always began his strange
assertions by an if. He did not dare to express his doubts
boldly: had he done so, you know that in Gondar, at least, he
would not have been allowed to continue, and he would have
been denied a residence in our city". The other Protestant
missionaries, however, preached more honestly and openly in
Adoua and throughout the province of Tigray. Accused of
political intrigues, they were repeatedly expelled from their
missions, and in 1855 they at length renounced all hopes of
being able to openly evangelize the country. In 1838, when
they were expelled from Adoua, they had made but one pro-
selyte in all Ethiopia. This was a servant who journeyed to
Jerusalem with an Abyssinian schism atical priest. The clergy-
man, falling short of money, sold his servant as a slave, and he
falling into M. Gobat's hands, was without much difficulty inspired
with hatred of his former clergy and their doctrines. Another
young Ethiopian, who had been sent by the missionaries to
school in England, was met on his return by M. d'Abbadie :
being asked whether he had adopted the Protestant creed, he
replied, that 'the numerous dissensions he had witnessed among
Protestants, had destroyed all religious belief in his mind'. It
is thus that the only fruits of Protestant propagandism are
those of doubt and incredulity. As the Protestant missionaries
had proved to be a failure in the work of evangelization, it was
thought that the same end might be more securely and success-
fully attained by secret means. M. Gobat offered to place at
the disposal of King Theodore the service of some skilful
mechanics, who, through philanthropic motives, were ready to
settle in the country for the purpose of labouring to improve
the physical condition of its people. The Abouna Salama, who
knew too well the agencies of his former masters, energetically
declared that this scheme was nothing less than " a pretext to
plot against the ,faith of the Christians". Nevertheless, the
wished-for permission was granted, and the " mechanics", with
MM. Sterne and Plowden and a few others, were allowed to
remain in Abyssinia. Very soon it was found that some of the
44 pious laymen", as they were styled, were by their immorality
a scandal to the natives, and that, in violation of the solemtt
VOL. v. 9
130 TKe Church in Abyssinia.
assurance they had given, they were engaged in distributing
Bibles among the natives, and in seeking to alienate the minds
of the people from the tenets of the abouna. The indiscretion
of these semi-religious, semi-political agents very soon led to
the assassination of Mr. Plowden on the highway near Gondar,
and to the arrest of six other English subjects, who were cast
into chains at Magdala on the 8th of July, 1866. The letters
of the prisoners disclosed to the English public that they had
for their companions in Magdala fourteen others, mostly Ger-
man mechanics, who were supported as pious laymen by some
Protestant missionary society, and who were kept by King
Theodore close to his own quarters. As regards the results of
the labours of this numerous evangelical staff, which brought
such fatigue oh the British army and entailed such expense on
the nation, we learn from a report of one of the English pri-
soners, that on one hand they professedly made mortars and
other engines of war for the Abyssinian emperor, whilst on the
other hand they covertly distilled brandy for the officers and
soldiers, and drove a very profitable trade as slave-mongers.
It is time, however, to return to M. de Jacobis. On the 2nd
of January, 1841, the prince of the country, named Oubie,
having heard of his sanctity and disinterestedness and love for
the Abyssinians, sent for him and received him with the greatest
honours. A second summons to appear before the prince
awaited him the following week. Oubie on this occasion
accepted of a painting of the Blessed Virgin and other gifts,
and caused the missioner to be seated on the royal carpet in
the midst of the court. After the usual compliments, Oubi£
disclosed to M. de Jacobis the object of his summons: a new
abouna had to be asked for from the Alexandrian patriarch,
and it was the wish of the court that de Jacobis should accom-
pany the embassy which was about to start for Egypt for that
Eurpose. The devoted missioner on reflection feared lest his
dth might be thus compromised, and hence replied: "Most
mighty prince I I am a Catholic, and as such I will live and die.
I might indeed accompany your deputation into Egypt, retain-
ing in my heart the sacred treasure of faith ; but what scandal
would be given to my brethren I what sorrow to my father and
master, the Pontiff of Rome ! On such terms, I cannot, I will
not go". Contrary to his expectation, these words did not
rouse the anger of Oubie, and hence, after a short pause, he
thus continued: "On the following conditions only will I
accompany your deputies : I will go to Cairo, that I may strive
to bring about a reunion between the Coptic Church and the
See of Rome. I will go, if thereby I may gain permission to
erect Catholic churches in your kingdom. I will go, if your
The Church in Abyssinia. 131
deputies will accompany me afterwards to Rome — if not to
tender their submission to the successor of St. Peter, at least
to implore his friendship and protection as the most powerful
of sovereigns". And so saying, he unrolled a mar> to show the
king and courtiers the wide domain of the pontiff's spiritual
sway, extending from the rising to the setting sun.
The king without difficulty assented to these conditions, and
from that moment we may date the triumph of the Catholic
mission in Abyssinia. On the 21st of January, 1841, M. de
Jacobis, with the royal embassy, started for Cairo. We will not
dwell on the many incidents of their painful and tedious
journey. Their equipment, indeed, corresponded but little with
the honours which they every where received. They were
badly clothed, their feet were bare, they sat on the ground, and
their only bed was a bullock's skin. Their meat was eaten
raw, and their only utensils were those which nature supplied.
For two months they were detained in little Arab boats along
the coast of the Red Sea, with nothing to distract their thoughts
save the barren shores and the rugged mountains beyond, reflect-
ing tbe brazen glare of an eastern sun; M. de Jacobis, however,
whiled away the tedium of the voyage by imparting instruction
from time to time to his fellow-travellers, and by reflecting on
the marvels which God had wrought in that sea and in the
surrounding desert in behalf of His chosen people.
On the 30th of April they at length reached Cairo : but here
new trials awaited them. The plague at this time devastated that
Egyptian capital, and all the European consulates were closed
against the travellers. The object of their mission and the
special privileges promised by the king to the Catholic mis-
sioner were soon bruited abroad, awakening the jealousy of the
.Patriarch, and exciting alarm among the schismatics of Cairo.
The members of the embassy were soon threatened with excom-
munication : some of them fled in terror to Jerusalem : no fewer
than seven others fell victims to the plague, and those that
remained having received the assurance that the Abouna Salama
would be appointed for the Abyssinian Church, started with M.
De Jacobis for Alexandria.
The embassy, which consisted of fifty members on their
arrival in Cairo, numbered but twenty-three when taking their
departure for Alexandria. The heart of the zealous missionary
was bent on conducting them to Rome. He felt from his inter-
course with them, that their isolation, and ignorance, and preju-
dice were the only obstacles to their union with the Holy See,
and he knew that the surest means for overcoming all these ob-
stacles was to lead the representatives of the nation to the Shrines
of the Apostles. But how were funds to be secured to meet the
9 B
The Church in Abyssinia.
expenses of such a journey? De Jacobis had hoped that
through Mehemet-Ali or the French Consul, he might be able
to secure some funds for the purpose; but in this he was dis-
appointed. To a pious Italian lady, wife of M. Rosetti, resi-
dent in Alexandia, he was indebted for his chief support ;
and through the kind contributions of friends, together with
gome aid received from the Sacred Congregation of Pro-
paganda, he was at lenglh, in the month of July, enabled
to set sail for Italy. A letter of De Jacobis from Malta, dis-
closes the hopes he entertained for the haj>py results of this ex-
pedition: " This journey", he writes, "will change the whole
idea of my poor Abyssinians, and will render the conversion of
their country comparatively easy. Pray for this result. In a
little while the end shall come, and we will be all united in Him
to whom the redemption of these souls is so dear".
In Rome the Abyssinians were filled with admiration at the
outward splendour of religion, and it seemed as if a new ter-
restrial paradise had been opened out before them. The Holy
•Father at their first audience conversed with them for a long
time through the medium of Cardinal Mezzofanti and M. De
Jacobis; he caused King Oubie's letter to be read and trans-
lated before him, and accepted with fatherly benevolence the
presents of incense, birds, and Abyssinian products which they
nad brought to him. At a subsequent audience he gave to each
of them medals and crosses of silver and gold, and likewise an
autograph letter with several rich presents for their king. The
kindness and affability of the Holy Father won the hearts of
the Abyssinians, who were moved to tears, and went away con-
trasting the charity and love shown to them in Rome with
the vexation and persecution they had experienced at Cairo.
On their way homeward, de Jacobis conducted his compa-
nions to Jerusalem to visit the holy sepulchre, and thence started
once more for his loved mission of Abyssinia. Passing on their
return through Cairo, they met with six other missionaries
journeying on to India and China, to take the place of their
.martyred brethren. At Suez they witnessed the arrival of a
little colony of nuns, the Sisters of Jesus, who were on their way
with the Abbe Caffarel to open a school for the education of
children at Agra At Jambo they met a crowd of Hadjis re-
turning from Mecca. " Lying on wretched mats", (it is thus
M. de Jacobis describes these Mahomedan pilgrims), "sickly,
covered with vermin, and half starved, no sooner did they see
the green flag of our vessel, which promised them a speedy re-
turn to their own land, than they rushed upon the deck of the
little schooner, regardless of the blows from the jannisaries who
.were endeavouring to keep them back. Only a portion of them
The Church in Abyssinia 133
could be crammed into the ship, and the rest returned to shore
disconsolate, to wait for the next vessel that might arrive. See-,
ing how their pilgrimage, the most solemn act of Mahomedarar
worship, is now held in discredit among the people, one could
not but feel that the last hour of the Koran was at hand".
At Djedda the travellers received at length some intelligence
from Abyssinia. During their absence Oubie', the King of Tigre',
had been defeated by Ras-Ali, the King of Gondar. The Abouna1
Salama had arrived just as the war broke out, and was summoned to
accompany the troops of Tigre. The abouna refused ; but Oubie*
said to him: " The only difference between you and my other
slaves is the enormous price I have paid for you in Cairo"; and
Salama was forced to comply. The news of the defeat of Oubie
filled our good missionary with alarm, lest all his cherished
hopes might thus be blasted, and hence he resolved on hastening
on without delay to Adoua. His Abyssinian companions had
ere this been all received into the Church, and his caravan had
been overtaken by new missionaries, destined to join him in
cultivating this distant mission. He was thus enabled to leave
at Massouah two priests named Bianchieri and Cyrillo : he kept
with himself a lay brother named Abatini, and in the beginning
of April he set out for Tigre, where he was destined to find
Oubie again triumphant and peace restored. A narrative of
this journey, written by de Jacobis himself to one of his order
in Paris, gives a most interesting account of the country through
which he passed, and of the manners of its people. : —
"I am, at last, arrived (he writes), and hasten to give you an
account of our long and perilous journey. There were two routes,
which equally led to the centre of my mission — that of Dexa and
that of Galaguora. I chose the latter, as being safer. The former
passes across the desert of Samahar to the mountain of Taranta,
as this St. Bernard of the Ethiopian Alps is called. I had taken
this route on my first arrival in Abyssinia, and beheld that sin-
gular phenomenon by which this chain of mountains forms, as
it were, an insuperable barrier between the two seasons — per-
petual sunshine and incessant rain alternating every six months
on the opposite sides of the range.
" Our route by Galaguora was equally striking. After leav-
ing Laguaja, we found ourselves as in a labyrinth of mountains,
the blackened cones and craters of which gave evidence of their
volcanic origin. In one of the gorges, the good Frere Abatini
was startled by the appearance of a fine lion; but he disappeared
on our approach, and all I saw was a multitude of gazelles feed-
ing in the valleys. After a four hours' march, we came on a
stream in a little valley, where a whole army of monkeys were
gathered together, both small and large. They screamed fright-
134 The Church in Abyssinia.
fully when we attempted to make a halt, and, retiring to the
lower spurs of the hills around, effectually succeeded in making
us feel that we were intruders on their domains. The next day
brought us a succession of misfortunes. The Naib of Arkiko,
on a^pretended dispute as to the right of passage, made us pay
heavily for our safe-conduct through his dominions ; then four
of our mules fell sick and died in a few hours of some unknown
epidemic ; the four that remained were already insufficient for
the baggage, and were, moreover, needed for such of our party
as were too ill and fatigued to continue their march. Altogether,
any one coming unexpectedly on our sickly caravan would have
imagined that we were the ambulance-wing of an invalided re-
giment.
" Towards night, our provisions were as completely exhausted
as our strength. We were obliged to lie down fasting, with no
beds but a mat laid on the stones, with the additional terror of
the wild beasts, whom the carcases of the dead mules had already
attracted to our encampment. It was a terrible night ; and, to
add to our misfortunes, the black clouds began to gather omi-
nously round us, and a heavy tropical rain drenched our clothes
and put out our fire. As sleeping on these hard rocks and in
this condition was impossible, I resolved to precede my com-
panions, and resumed my march. How vividly, in the midst
of a vast solitude like this, does one realise the greatness and
presence of God ! Full of thoughts of Him and the mercy which
had followed me ever since (thirteen months before) I had be-
gun this Abyssinian mission, I climbed up the hill, forgetful of
latigue, amidst the harmony of thousands of singing birds, and
in an atmosphere embalmed with jessamine, sweet acacia, and
other flowering shrubs. As I walked on, I heard a step behind
me, and turning round, found a monk of Gondar who had been
with me in Egypt and at Rome, Abba Gebra Tensaite by name,
and who had been cured of a frightful fever in Jerusalem,
where I had administered to him the last sacraments. He had
come to implore me to allow him to remain with me, as he thought
his cure had been miraculous. I told him that, in the present
state of things in the Tigre' country, I did not know if I should
find even a roof to cover my head; but that if he would throw
in his lot with mine, I would share with him my bed and my
last bit of bread, and we would labour together for our Lord.
He was overjoyed, and followed me gaily and gladly along the
stony and precipitous track. All those who were with me at
Rome seem to be filled with the same spirit — they only burn to
become apostles in their own country ; and fervent souls of this
sort, under the direction of the mission, is the one object I have
had most at heart. At the same time, the Abyssinian people are
The Church in Abyssinia. 135
proverbially insincere. The words of the Pere Lobo were always
recurring to my memory : ' The moment an Abyssinian shows
you great affection, be assured he has determined to compass
your ruin'. So, was I or was I not to belie vein the protestations
of my cherished friend ? After mature reflection, I resolved to
trust ; and the result proved that I was right in following simply
the dictates of my own heart.
" Towards evening we reached Waha-Negus, the most beauti-
ful spot which heart of painter could conceive. I never saw
such flowers and plants: mimosas of enormous height, and other
tropical shrubs ; while the birds' notes had a sweetness which I
had never before heard in any country. Yet this was in the
heart of an enormous desert, rarely, if ever, visited by human
footstep, How miserable are man's conceptions in the face of
God's works ! We could hardly tear ourselves from this enchant-
ing spot to toil up the steep mountain-ridge which separates the
desert of Samahar- from the pasture-lands on the opposite side,
inhabited by a nomad and shepherd people called the Chohos.
The bitter cold and the hardness of our couches roused us early
on the 2nd of May, and we were thankful to come down into
the. valley of Rerie'-Male, which village we reached towards
mid- day.
" In going from this desert of Samahar to Adoua, the mission-
station to which we were bound, the course is straight from north
to south. Here a young Scotchman met me, a Mr. Bell, bearing
letters from the mission ; and with him came an Abyssinian boy
who had cried bitterly at my departure, and who was almost be-
side himself with joy at seeing me again. The news they brought
was favourable. Oubie had expressed great joy at the prospect
of my return, and his people were ready to receive me with open
arms. The next day we crossed the mountain called Wamba,camp-
ing afterwards in a fertile valley by the side of a rushing stream,
under the shade of a gigantic tree, called mefleh, and which is
exactly like a citron or lime in flower and leaf. On the 4th of
- May, we arrived in Caikor, the first Christian province on the
frontiers of Tigre. The mountain- which separates the two
countries towers above one's head in colossal proportions, and a
rent in the rocks appears to afford a passage, cut in squared
stones, seeming as if created by human workmanship or by the
force of artillery — till the gigantic size of each stone, and the
enormous masses of granite standing up on either side of the
narrow passage, make one realise a Power above that of man.
Caikor is a rich and magnificent plain, watered by rivers and
entirely surrounded by an ampitheatre of hills. Elephants and
lions abound, and we saw their traces every where. The hospi-
tality of the people was remarkable, and made us feel instantly
!36 The Church in Abyssinia.
that we had entered a Christian country, although these poor
people retain little of Christianity but the name. Men, women,
and children came out to meet the * Abouna Jacob', as they
called me, although the said * Abouna' appeared among them
with no other clothing than a poor and dirty cloth. They brought
us a sheep, with abundance of milk and bread, and did every
thing they could to express their joy at our arrival. [ learnt,
however, at this place, that the Copt « Abouna' was intriguing
right and left to prevent my return to Adoua, and had secretly
sent emissaries to rob me on the way. Hardly had we left
Galaguora, than we were attacked by & body of armed men,
on horseback, who endeavoured to seize one of the baggage-
mules. I resisted, and spoke with such authority of my friend-
ship with Oubie, and the punishment which would follow on any
wrong being inflicted either on me or on his deputies, that the
villains were intimidated and left us in peace. Then came up
the governor of Galaguora, who had been equally bribed by the
Abouna, and who tried to extort money from me on various pre-
texts, in which he was foiled, and had to retreat without having
been able to gratify his avarice. On the 6th May we arrived at
Gouda-Falasie, where we found the whole population engaged
in celebrating the nativity of the Blessed Virgin, which is fixed
for that day in the Ethiopian calendar, being the first Sunday
after Easter. But this feast, like all others in this unhappy land,
has more the character of a pagan saturnalia than any thing
else. . . . We encountered continual annoyances from the
emissaries of the Abouna, but God overruled all things for our
safety ; and on Thursday, the 1 3th of May, we arrived at Mariam-
Senito, where we found a whole cavalcade of mules, with a crowd
of our old Abyssinian friends, who had come to meet us and con-
duct us in great state to Adoua. And here we found every thing
to encourage us for the future. Every where the Catholic spirit
seems inclined to revive — the well-disposed among the people of
all classes are disgusted with the liberty and license permitted
by the different sects, and wish for a return to a purer faith.
The kings themselves are favourable to us. Oubie, though still
nominally a prisoner, has been kindly and generously assisted
by his rival Ras-Aly, who gave him his liberty on parole, and
will probably soon allow him to return to his own country.
" Balgada, the governor of these provinces, has begged us to
come and preach to his people. The Etchfyut, who is at the
head of the monastic orders, has openly declared his veneration
for our faith, and his desire to reform the religious houses. Oubie,
who is far-sighted as a politician, thinks that our ministry maybe
of use in raising the tone of his people and securing the alliance
of France ; Ras protects us at Gondar ; and the wisest of Ethi-
Rubrical Questions. 137
opian petty kings, Sahala Salassie, has given evidence of the
most friendly feelings towards the mission. But, above all, in
the hearts of the people themselves, the seed sown is beginning
to bear fruit. The descriptions of Rome, spread on all sides by
the deputies on their return, have dissipated a host of prejudices ;
and, finally, Catholicism — which, for many centuries, has been
repudiated as the most criminal of heresies — now enjoys an equal
liberty with the other religions established in the country. This
alone is an immense point gained".
(To be continued).
RUBRICAL QUESTIONS.
1. How many candles should be lighted on the altar at ordi-
nary low Mass — at episcopal Mass — and at high Mass ?
2. When the anniversary de Requie falls on a privileged day,
may the Mass and Absolutio tumuli proceed as usual, —
should the absolution be always given by the celebrant of
the Mass?
1. AT private Mass, by a single priest, only two candles
should be lighted. This case has been repeatedly decided by
the Sacred Congregation, and from the latest decisions we learn
that not even for capitular dignitaries should an exception be
made in this rule.
On festival days, however, and other solemn occasions, it is
permitted to light at least four candles during low Mass. Thus
the Minor Ritual of Benedict the Thirteenth allows more than
the prescribed number on the feast of the Purification of the
B. V. M., and on Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, and Holy
Saturday. Indeed, the use of more than two candles at Mass
is prohibited only where it would imply some superior dignity
in him who offers the Holy Sacrifice ; but when it is intended
to remind the faithful of the special recurring feast or solem-
nity, it is certainly not prohibited, and is quite conformable to
the decree of the Sacred Congregation of 12th September, 1857,
and to the usage of the continental churches.
We can scarcely suppose that our correspondent is serious
when he asks whether the rubric, "Et candelabra saltern duo
Rubrical Questions.
cum candelis accensis June et inde", may be interpreted to mean
two at each side; this certainly would be a very unnatural in-
terpretation of the rubric. The decisions, however, of the
Congregation of Rites set the matter very clearly at rest. Thus,
when interrogated whether for vicars and prothonotaries, four
candles might be used on the altar at low Mass, it replied on
9th August, 1627, non convenire. More^than once this decree
was repeated in regard to the capitular dignitaries, and on 27th
September, 1659, the general decree was issued: " In missis
privatis, praelati episcopis inferiores duas tantum candelas super
altare adhibeant".
When low Mass is celebrated by bishops, four candles may
be used. The Caeremoniale Episcoporum expressly enjoins that
four candles should be thus lighted on the solemn festivals: " in
festis solemnibus decet apponi quatuor candelabra cum candelis
accensis". Catalani, illustrating this rubric, teaches that six
candles may be lighted on such festivals at Episcopal Mass ; and
he adds, that though four candles are not commanded on ferial
days, still they may be used to show special honour for the
episcopal dignity, which rule holds good not only for bishops
in their respective dioceses, but wheresoever they may offer up
the Holy Sacrifice.
When a bishop celebrates High Mass in his own diocese,
seven candles are lighted on the altar, emblematic of the seven
* angels of the churches', of whom the apostle speaks in the
Apocalypse, and of the seven heavenly graces with which the
bishop is invested to faithfully discharge his sacred duties.
At all other ordinary High Masses only six candles should be
lighted on the altar ; and we may remark, that a recent decree
expressly condemns the practice of substituting at either side of
the crucifix a candelabrum with three branches instead of the
full number of six candelabra with which the altar should be
adorned.
In High Masses de Requie, a decree of the Sacred Congre-
gation on 12th August, 1854, permits the use of ouly four
candles.
, 2. When the anniversary Office for the Dead falls on a day
on which, as a rule, Mass de Requie cannot be said, — for instance,
within the octave of the Epiphany, — then the Office for the
Dead and the absolutio at the catafalque may be given in black
vestments, but the Mass of the day must take the place of the
Requiem Mass.
There are two points, however, to be particularly remarked in
connection with this rule: 1st, The absolutio should in this case
immediately follow the Office for the Dead, and precede the
solemn Mass of the day ; it is even prescribed that the cata-
Rubrical Questions. 139
falque itself in such a case should be removed before the com-
mencement of Mass. 2nd, The absolutio should be given by
the priest who offers up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The first of these rules rests on many decrees of the Congre-
gation of Rites. Thus, the question having been proposed,
whether in such anniversary offices the Mass of the day might be
said according to the prescribed ritual, retaining however the ca-
tafalque before the Altar, with the lighted candles, etc., the Sacred
Congregation replied on the 10th January, 1852, that the Mass
of the day might indeed be celebrated, but that the catafalque
should be removed: " Posse dummodo removeatur tumulus tern-
pore Missae, acfinita circa ilium absolution?. Again, the ques-
tion was discussed whether the absolutio tumuli might be given
after the Mass of the day; and on 9th of June, 1853, a decree
was published declaring that the absolutio after Mass was only
allowed in the case of Requiem Mass, and could not be tolerated
after the celebration of the Mass of the day: " Absolutio pro de-
functis, finita Missa, fieri potest tantummodo quando dicta fuit
Missa de Requie".
As regards the second rule given above, an exception is to
be made only in the case of bishops. On the 12th of August,
1854, the question was proposed: " Utrum post Missam in die
obitus, alius Sacerdos a celebrante diversus accedere possit ad
absolutionem peragendam T and the Sacred Congregation replied
'* Negative, et ex decretis hoc jure gaudere tantum Episcopos\
The rubric of the Missal indeed implies that the celebrant of
the Mass is the person who should perform the subsequent cere-
mony : " Mass being ended, if the absolutio is to be performed,
the celebrant laying aside the chasuble and maniple, assumes the
cope", etc. (Rubric, part ii. titul, 13, n. 4). There is also a
decree of the Sacred Congregation on the 21st July, 1855, in
the same sense, and it expressly declares, " Congruum esse ut
absolutio ad fenbrum fiat ab ipso sacerdote qui Missam celebravit,
non ab olio diverson.
Rubricists, indeed, discuss whether the privilege accorded to
bishops of performing the absolution, although they do not cele-
brate the Mass, holds only for bishops in their own sees, or
whether it may be granted to all bishops who assist at such cere-
monies. The Sacred Congregation however has not thought
well to give any decision on that point, and it has merely issued
the general Decree, that to Bishops and Bishops alone, belongs
the privilege of performing the A bsolutio tumuli in the excep-
tional case to which we have referred.
140
DOCUMENTS.
Letter of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda on the use of
the Latin Language in correspondence with the Holy See.
" Illustrissime ac Reverendissime Domine,
" Fuit in more positum saeculis anteactis, ut qui cum Aposto-
lica Sede communicare deberent ad negotia ecclesiastica (ex-
ceptis illis quae ad ritus orientates pertinebant) pertractanda, vel
ad gratias postulandas, ii latina lingua aut saltern italica uterentur.
Nee sane eiusmodi mos gravibus destituebatur rationum mo-
mentis, cum inter coetera exigi nullatenus posset ut in tanta
linguarum varietate administri aut officiales Sanctae Sedis, quae
ab omnibus terrarum orbis nationibus literas aut petitiones ex-
cipit, omnium linguas legerent atque intelligerent. At vero non-
nullis ab hinc annis usus invaluit ut ad Sacram hanc Congrega-
tionem Fidei Propagandae, passim scripta non solum gallica
lingua (quod difficultatem vix ullam facessit) sed anglica, ger-
manica, hollandica aliisque exarata linguis transmittantur ; ex quo
non raro contingit ut negotiorum sacrorum expeditio non parum
dilationis patiatur. Quae cum ita sint, sane non possum quin
111. Dominationi tuae commendem etiam atque etiam, ut ne-
dum laicis, sed praesertim ecclesiasticis viris tibi subiectis incul-
care ne praetermittas, ut quoties ad sacrum hoc Consilium literas,
petitiones aut etiam acta ad causas ecclesiasticas pertinentia mit-
tere voluerint, latinum vel italicum idioma quantum fieri poterit,
adhibendum curent. Et quoniam latinam linguam commemo-
ravi, abs re non erit animadvertere ex illius linguae neglectu
gravissima per orbem Ecclesiis detrimenta obvenire. Neque enim
tantum exinde difficilior evadit cum Ecclesia Romana atque aliis
cum Ecclesiis variarum regionum communicatio, non solum
amittitur maximum illud quo praeteritis temporibus catholici
itinerantes gaudebant emolumentum, inveniendi scilicet, ubique
locoium, Christi fideles quasi fratres communi patriae romanae
lingua loquentes, verum etiam extranei christiano populo sensim
sine sensu evadent ac fere impervii omnes turn sacrae turn pro-
fanae scientiae fontes, qui graecam praesertim linguam ignoran-
tibus nonnisi per latinum idioma patere possunt. Quamobrem
erit sollicitudinis tuae operam impendere, ut studium latinae
linguae in tua Dioecesi promoveatur, cuius rei suscipiendae, op-
Documents. 14
portunam Tibi occasionem praebere poterit, quod praesentibus
literis 111. Domination! tuae censui coramendandum.
• " Precor Deum ut Te diu sospitem servet incolummeque.
" Datum Romae ex Aedibus S. C. de Prop. Fide die 29 Sep-
tembris, 1868.
" ill ac Revmae. Dominationis Tuae.
" Ad Officia paratissimus
" AL. C. BARNABO, Pr.
" JOANNES SIMEONI, Secretarius"
Decree regarding the Blessed Scapulars, 18$ August, 1868.
DECRETUM.
" Ex quo parva scapularia, quae fideles gestare solent, in sua
origine et institutione aliud non sint quam scapularia variis
Ordinibus Religiosis propria pro maiori Fidelium commoditate
ad parvam formam redacta, enata sunt dubia a Re vino . P. Procu-
ratore generali Congregationis SSmi. Redemptoris S. Congrega-
tion! Indulgentiarum et SS. Reliquiarum proposita solvenda,
quae tarn ad antiqua, quam ad recentiora Scapularia referuntur,
scilicet :
I. " Utrum ad scapularia conficienda necessario et exclusive
adhibenda sit materia ex lana vel utrum sumi etiam possit xyli-
num (vulgo cotone) aliave similis materia. Et quatenus affirma-
tive ad primam partem, et negative ad secundam.
II. " Utrum vox Pannus, Panniculus, ab auctoribus commu-
niter usurpata, sumi debeat sensu stricto, id est de sola lanea
textura proprie dicta (vulgo tessuto), vel utrum etiam intelligi
possit de lanea textura reticulata (vulgo lavoro di maglie, trico-
tage) et de quocumque laneo opere acu picto (ricamo, broderie)
adhibito tamen semper colore praescripto.
III. " Utrum validum sit scapulare ex panno laneo coloris
prescripti, quod intexta vel acu pi eta habet ornamenta pariter
ex lana, sed diversi coloris.
IV. "Utrum validum sit scapulare ex panno laneo coloris
praescripti, quod intexta vel acu picta habet ornamenta ex ma-
teria non lanea, v. g. ex serico, argento, aureo etc.
V. " Hucusque generalis viguit usus conficiendi scapularia
formae oblongae vel saltern quadratae : nunc autem quibusdam
in regionibus introducitur usus conficiendi scapularia formae
rotundae vel ovalis, imo et multangulae : quaeritur itaque utrum
142 Documents.
alia forma praeter oblongam vel quadratam obstet valididati
scapularis.
VI. " Permultis in regionibus laudabilis viget usus a S. Sede
approbatus gestandi per modum unius plura simul inter se di-
versa scapularia : quo in casu variorum scapularium panniculi
alii aliis superpositi, duobus tantum funiculis assuuntur, ita tamen
ut singularium scapularium panniculi dependeant tarn a
pectore, quam ab humeris Non raro autem haec scapularia
unita sic conficiuntur, ut loco plurium panniculorum diversi
coloris unicus tantum in utraque funiculorum extremitate pan-
niculus habeatur, in quo conspicitur ornamentum intextum vel
acu pictum ex diversis coloribus ad significanda plura diversa
scapularia ; quaeritur, utrum haec scapularia sint valida.
" Itaque Emi patres in Congregatione generali habita in Pa-
latio Apostolico Vaticano die 20 lulii 1868 audito prius Con-
sultoris Voto, rebusque mature perpensis, rescribendum esse
duxerunt :
Ad. I. Affirmative ad primam partem, negative ad secundam.
Ad. II. Affirmative ad primam partem, negative ad secundam.
Ad. III. Affirmative, dummodo ornamenta talia sint, ut color
praesctiptus praevaleat.
Ad. IV. Ut in praecedenti.
Ad. V. Nihil esse innovandum.
Ad. VI. Negative.
" Et facta de praemissis relatione SSmo. Domine Pio Papae
IX. a me infrascripto Cardinali Praefecto in audientia habita die
18 Augusti 1868 Sanctitas sua Resolutionem Sacrae Congrega-
tionis ratam habuit".
A. CARD. BIZZARRI Praefectus.
A. Colombo Secretarius.
in.
The following Resolutions, adopted at a public meeting in
Armagh in 1824, have been forwarded to us by a kind friend,
rhey^are^ valuable as an historical document; but they are of
especial importance at the present day as they sufficiently dis-
prove the statement so vauntingly set forth by the champions of
Protestantism, viz., that the Catholics of Ireland before the
emancipation never dreamt of referring the evils of this country
to the baneful source of Protestant ascendency : —
Documents. 143
Resolutions adopted in Armagh on the 3rd of October, 1824.
At a Meeting of the Catholics of the city and parish of Armagh,
convened pursuant to requisition, and held in the Catholic School
House of Armagh, the 3rd of October, 1824, the Rev. Dr. Campbell
in the chair, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted ;—
1st, — That we behold with sincere and painful sorrow the humili-
ating and depressed condition of the Catholic people of Ireland, long
subject to penal and restrictive statutes, and deprived of that parti-
cipation in the constitution which is their inherent birth-right, to
which every subject of these realms is justly entitled, and which was
wrested from their ancestors in open violation of the faith of the most
solemn treaties.
2nd, — That from this unjust and unequal state of things has sprung
an insolent and domineering faction, which made its first appearance
in this county, and inflicted on every portion of the Catholic inhabi-
tants thereof the most ruthless persecution, and continued to this day
so to poison the source of justice, that it is next to impossible for a
Catholic to procure a fair and impartial administration of law, where
an Orangeman is the accuser or the accused.
3rd, — That we are of opinion the attempts made to proselytize the
Catholic children of Ireland, by introducing into parish schools, to
which Catholic children are seduced to attend, books not in accordance
with the Catholic doctrine, and the using of the Sacred Scriptures
without note or comment as a school book, tend greatly to disturb the
harmony of society, and render nugatory the donations of government
for the education of the poor ; it being impossible that the Catholic
pastor can permit his flock to attend such schools, where they are in
danger of having their faith perverted, and in its stead principles of a
vague and indeterminate character implanted in the youthful breast,
leaving the soul no guide but its own wild imagination to conduct it
to eternity.
4th, — That it is particularly incumbent upon us to embrace the
course pointed out by the Catholic Association for ameliorating the
condition of the Catholics of Ireland, and to lend our aid to the estab •
lishing of a general fund, to which the disconsolate Catholic may look
as a source from which he may expect protection and relief ; and that
we consider the plan suggested by the Catholic Association for the
raising of this general fund by one penny per month subscription
throughout Ireland, denominated, " The Monthly Catholic Rent" as
best calculated to insure success, which we hereby adopt and recom-
mend to the adoption of the several parishes throughout this
County.
5th, — That a treasurer and secretary are hereby appointed for the
collection of the Catholic Rent in this parish ; and that these, together
with five other gentlemen, do constitute a committee for the manage-
ment thereof, and to make such arrangements respecting the same as
to them may appear most advisable.
6th, — That we earnestly implore our fellow Catholics of the
144 Documents.
humbler ranks of life not to suffer themselves to be deluded by crafty
and designing men to join in any secret or unlawful combination or
society whatever, which produces the worst effects, and seldom fails to
involve the unhappy dupes and their families in distress and utter
ruin.
7th, — That that distinguished and highly respectable body, the
Catholic Association of Ireland, is justly entitled to our esteem, con-
fidence, and gratitude : to its members we hereby return our most
cordial thanks, and in an especial manner to Daniel O'Connell, Esq.,
for his unceasing exertions in favour of his suffering fellow-countrymen
and to George Ensor, Esq., whom we are proud to recognize as an
inhabitant of our county.
HENRY CAMPBELL, P.P., Chairman.
CHARLES CAVANAGH, Junr., Secretary.
Doctor Campbell having left the chair and Mr. C. Cavanagh, sen.,
having been called thereto, it was resolved, — That the marked thanks
of this meeting are hereby given to the Rev. Doctor Campbell for his
proper conduct in the Chair.
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD,
JANUARY, 1869.
THE DIOCESE OF DUBLIN IN THE YEAR 1630.
THE following description of the diocese of Dublin, for an accu-
rate copy of which we are indebted to an esteemed friend, was
presented to the privy council of Ireland on the 1st of June,
1630. It was drawn up by Dr. Lancelot Bulkeley, Protestant
archbishop of the see, and the original document, signed with
his own hand, is preserved in the Library of T. C. D. (MSS. F.
3. 17).
It begins abruptly with the parish of St. Michael's, and then
sketches in detail the condition of each parish of the diocese.
Most of the churches are described as in a state of ruin, but in-
deed in many cases they were in sufficient repair for the wants
of the congregation, since all the parishioners, as we are often told,
still adhered to the ancient faith. Dr. Bulkeley cannot be sup-
posed to write with any prejudice in favour of the Catholics. It
was he who, in 1629, sallied forth from Dublin Castle at the
head of a military troop, to seize on the Carmelite priests in
their secluded chapel in Cooke Street It fared badly with him,
however, in that attempt ; for, though he found a priest actually
engaged in sayiug Mass, yet so determined were the devout
people of Cooke Street, and so vigorous was their resistance to
his attack, that, as Ware assures us, he was compelled " to take
to his heels and cry out for help, and with difficulty saved him-
self by taking shelter in an adjoining house". It was in conse-
quence of the supposed insult thus offered to the Protestant
archbishop that the proclamation, to which the following report
so often refers, was issued by royal authority, commanding the
demolition of the Cooke Street house, and confiscating to the.
vot,. Y, 10
146 The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630.
state all the houses employed for Catholic purposes throughout
the kingdom.
The reader will learn from the present document that, notwith-
standing the royal proclamation, many such houses remained un-
suppressed, and the holy sacrifice continued to be offered up in
them. Happily, too, the names of the priests are recorded, and
with them are frequently registered the names of the devoted
families in each- district who afforded a shelter and safe retreat
to the clergy in these times of persecution. Many of the inci-
dental remarks will also be found to be of the deepest interest.
Thus we are told of the great house of the Jesuits, in St.
Nicholas's parish, seized on for his Majesty— of the priest's
chamber in St. Catherine's— of the great void house covered with
straw in Garristown, and so on of other places where the holy
sacrifice was offered up,
It would be interesting to contrast the state of the Protestant
Church as pourtrayed in this official document, with its condi-
tion in earlier or in subsequent times. This, however, would re-
quire a too lengthened article. We shall be content for the pre-
sent with one example. The town of Swords was a manor of
the Protestant archbishop : special privileges were granted to it
by Elizabeth and James the First, and everything had been
done to promote its Protestant interests. Sir Henry Sydney
himself tells us that, when lord deputy, he " caused to be planted
there about forty families of the Reformed Churches of the Low
Countries, flying thence for religion's sake: and truly it would
have done any man good to see how dilligently they worked,
and how they reedified the quiet spoiled castle of the town, and
repaired almost all the same, and how godly and cleanly they,
their wives, and children lived" (Carew State Papers, March 1st,
1583.) Yet, notwithstanding all these advantages, we learn
from the archiepiscopal report that in 1630 the gentlemen of the
parish were Catholics ; Mass was said in despite of the law in
the house of Mr. Taylor ; the priest, Father Doyle, even kept a
school in the town ; and the Protestant congregation was reduced
to sixty individuals. This instance would alone suffice to prove
the vitality of the Catholic faith in this country, and yet it is
but one of the many illustrations which might be given from
this official document of Dr. Bulkeley.
We now present in full to our readers this important descrip-
tion of the diocese of Dublin in the year 1630:
" St. Michael's. That parish church and chauncel are in very
good repair and furnished with ornaments befitting. The most
part of the parishioners are recusants, yet the church most com-
monly is full of Protestants, who resort thither every Sunday to
hear divine service and sermon. There is one Mass-house in
The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630. 147
that parish, which stands in the back of Mr. George Taylor's
house: it is partly in St. Michael's parish and partly in St.
Nicholas's parish Within the Walls : the recusants of that parish
and of the parishes adjoining, resort thither commonly. The
priest that says Mass there, and is commonly called the priest of
that parish, is named Patrick Bran'gan. The free school of the
city is in that parish, which is discharged by one Mr. Shortall",
Master of Arts. The yearly value of the living is £60 sterling,
besides casualties. Mr. Edmund Donnelan, Bachelor of Di-
vinity, is preacher there.
" St. John's. That church is likewise in good repair and de-
cency. The parishioners of that parish that are recusants frer
quent the above named Mass-house, and have the same man for
their priest. The most of the parishioners are Protestants, and
duly frequent their parish church, yet there are great store of
papists there. There is one Mr. Brad well, tince the death of
Mr. Hill, that dischargeth the cure diligently. The value of this
benefice yearly by Act of State is £60.
" St. Michans. The church is in good repair and decency.
The most part of the parishioners are recusants, who go to one
Browne, a priest, to hear Mass, who says Mass commonly in the
houses of one Patrick White and the widow Geydon, or Geaton.
Mr. John Parker is prebend there, and dischargeth the cure, for
which he hath £50 per annum, and besides casualties.
" St. Audocns. The church is out of repair. There are but
sixteen Protestant houses in the parish, all the rest, being above
three parts, are recusants. The parish is cessed by Act of
State in an hundred marks yearly, but the incumbent cannot
make nigh so much of it. Doctor Robert Usher is incumbent
there, and serves the cure. There is a guild in that parish
called St Anne's guild, that hath swallowed up all the church,
means which should be for the minister and reparation of the
church.
" St. Nicholas Without the Walls. The church is in good repair
and decency: the cure now served by one Mr. Edward Parry,
Master of Arts. There is a great congregation of Protestants
that usually come to church. The most of the parishioners are
recusants, and some of them repair to Patrick Brangan aforesaid
to hear Mass, and other some to one William Donogh, a Mass-
priest, who liveth in St. Thomas Street. The yearly value of
the living is £40 besides casualties.
" St. Walborough's. The church is in good repair and de-
cency. Mr. Hoyle, Bachelor of Divinity, is curate there. There
are two hundred and thirty nine householders in that parish, all
Protestants, except twenty-eight papist householders. The'
value of that is £j(50 per annum.
• 10 B
148 The Diocese oj Dublin in the year 1630.
" St. Nicholas Within the Walls. The church and chauncel are
in good repair and decency. The most of the parishioners are
papists. There are many Protestants who frequent that church
m the time of divine service and sermon. There is only in that
parish the great house built by the Jesuits, which is seized upon
for his Majesty. Mr. John Hyde, Master of Arts, is curate there,
his means there being worth £30 besides casualties.
" St. Catherines and St. James' . The church of St. Catherine's
and the chauncel is in good repair and decency. There is a place
in that parish called the Priest's Chamber, lately built by one
that the papists call Sir William Donnogh, who says Mass there.
This house or chamber is situated over one Charles's or Carroll's
house, a victualler. There is a school kept in that parish by
one James Dunne, a papist, in the house of one John Crosby, a
stabler. The church of St. James is near covered, but not
glazed ; the chauncel down ; the tythes imprcpriate belonging to
the Swords. Mr. Thomas Smith, Bachelor of Divinity, dis-
charges the cure and is vicar, his means there being worth £50
sterling per annum, besides casualties. The number of com-
municants in St. Catherine's parish is about six hundred.
" St. Kevin's and St. Bride's. The great tithes of St. Kevin's
belong unto the Dean and Chapter of St. Patrick's, Dublin. Mr.
Edward Parry, Master of Arts and preacher, is vicar there ; and
by reason of the smallness of the means thereof, it is united to St.
Bride's and some other parishes adjoining, which church of St.
Bride's is in good repair and decency, the whole means being be-
tween £50 and £40 per annum. There is a Mass-priest, named
John Begg, in that parish, who hath out of every recusant's house
in that parish, being fifty, eight shillings per annum. The parish
church and chauncel of St. Kevin's is altogether ruinous. Edward
Myles of Dublin, gentleman, deceased, left £5 sterling towards
the building of that church; and his son, William Myles, left £5
sterling more, as can be proved by good testimony ; which sum
is denied by Mr. Lynch, who enjoyeth their estate; which ten
pounds, with the benevolence of others who promised to bestow
if the said ten pounds were received, would build up the church.
Donabrooke. The church and chauncel are in good repair and
decency. There is a Mass-priest, named John Cawhell, who says
Mass in that parish and in the near adjoining parishes, and espe-
cially in the towns of Merion, Dundrum, and Ballawly. The
tithes of this parish and of the parish of Tany and Rathfarnam
belong unto the Archdeacon of Dublin, being worth £100 per
annum. Mr. Prescott, Master of Arts and preacher, discharges
the cures, for which he receiveth, as he says, £12. In the parish
of Donabrooke there are about fortie that go to church.
es. The church, by the neglect of the gentlemen of that
The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630. 149
parish who are recusants, is lately fallen flat to the ground, and
no part standing only some part of the bare walls. There is one
Doyle, a Mass-priest who keeps school in the town of Swoordes,
to whom many gentlemen's sons do resort. This priest com-
monly says Mass in the house of Michael Taylor of Swoordes,
gentleman, whereunto there is great concourse of people on Sun-
days and holydays. There useth to come to church there about
threescore to hear Divine service and sermon. Mr. Christopher
Huetsonn is vicar there, whose means there arc worth £40 per
annum.
" Cloghran Swoordes. The church and chauncel is in reason-
able repair, only it wants necessary ornaments within. Mass is
said in that parish. The Mass-priest's name is Marcus Barne-
wall. Nicholas Culme, clerk, is parson, and serves the cure, his
means being worth £22 per annum. All the parishioners, being
about forty-eight persons besides children, are recusants, and
none come to church save Mr. Maurice Smyth and his family
when they reside there.
" Donabate. The church and chauncel are in reasonable good
repair, but want ornaments within. Mr. John Mooney, clerk, is
vicar, whose wife is, as he himself hath certified under his hand,
as rank and violent a recusant as any lives this day in Christen-
dom. He hath not certified the value of that living, nor the
priest's name. The parsonage is impropriate.
" Kilsalclian. The church is out of all repair and ornaments.
There are but two in that parish that come to church. There is
Mass said in the house of Mr. Philip Hoare of Kilsalchan, who
keeps away the glebe land from the vicar ; but the priest's name
is not certified. The great tithes are impropriate, and held by
Mrs. Bise of Dublin and Mr. Conran of Maynstown. Mr. Robert
Worrall, Master of Arts and preacher, is vicar there. His means
are about £20 per annum.
" Kilossery. The roof of this church wants a little repair, and
all other necessaries save books. Mr. Fagan, of Feltrim, is farmer
of the rectory, held from the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church,
for which Mr. Fagan pays per annum £4 10s., being worth
£80 per annum. One Richard Kelly, preacher, is curate there,
and hath £5 15s. 4d. out of the small tithes, besides forty shillings
more allowed by Mr. Fagan. All the parishioners, except Mr.
Boulton, his Majesty's solicitor, and his family, are recusants.
" Santry. The church and chauncel are uncovered, and want
all necessary ornaments. The gjreat tithes are impropriate,
belonging to the Swords. There is a vicarage endowed, worth
£8 per annum. One Randal Dymock is curate there. All the
parishioners, except very few, are recusants. There is one James
Drake, a Mass-priest, resident at Tartaine, and commonly saith
The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630.
Mass there. There is likewise his brother, Patrick Drake, a
Popish schoolmaster, to whom the children thereabouts go to
school. .
" Howthe. The church is in decay, and wants slates and glazing :
the chauncel well. There come thither, to hear Divine service,
thirty persons or thereabouts. Mass is commonly said by one
Shergall, a priest, in the house of Mr. Richard St. Lawrence, of
Corston, in the parish of Howth. Mr. Christopher Huetson is
prebend there, whose means there are worth fourscore pounds
sterling per annum. Mr. Huetson certifies that the Lord of
Howth, the heirs of Bealing of Bealingston, and others, do detain
from the incumbent twenty acres of land, twelve houses, ^and
fifty-five shillings chief rent due to him, and heretofore received
by his predecessors.
" Baldoyle. The church is altogether ruinous ; there is nothing
but the bare walls. It is an iinpropriation. Mr. Thomas Fitz-
symons, of the Grainge, is farmer to it. The tithes thereof are
worth £40 per annum. One Richard Kelly, clerk, is curate,
and hath but thirty-four shillings per annum for his pains.
There is Mass commonly said upon Sundays and holidays in the
said Mr. Fitzsymons' house, where the parishioners commonly
resort. There are no Protestants in the parish.
" Portmarnock. The church and chauncel very ruinous, the
tithes impropriate, thought to be worth £50 per annum, held
by the Lady Newcomen, Mr. Nicholas Barnewall, of Turvy,
and Walter Plunkett, of the Grainge. The priest's name is as
yet unknown, but Mass is said in the said Walter Piunkett's
house. All the parishioners are recusants. Richard Kelly, clerk,
is curate, who hath £6 per annum for serving the cure.
" Balgriffin and St Uowlocks are united. The churches and
chauncels are ruinous and want all ornaments. The tithes are
impropriate, held by Mr. Fagan, of Feltrim, and Mr. Usher, of
Cromlyn. The value of the tithes is unknown to the incum-
bent. Richard Kelly, aforesaid, dischargeth the cure, and hath
no certain allowance, only for these four years past, the Right
Hon. the Lord Chancellor allowed him £25, part of which he
is 'paid, the rest (is) promised; but for the time to come he
knoweth not what to have. All the parishioners are recusants,
and resort to Fitzsymons' Grainge and Piunkett's Grainge, and
some to Howth.
" Mallahyde. The church and chauncel ruinous. The tithes
impropriate, worth £120 per annum. The said Richard Kelly
is curate, and hath, for serving there, but £4 sterling. All the
parishioners are recusants and go to Mass now at Mr. Talbott of
Mallahyde's house more usually than heretofore. The said Mr.
Talbott of Mallahyde is farmer to the tithes.
The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630. 151
" Killiegh. This parish church is altogether gone to ruin. The
tithes belong to the Dean and Chapter of St. Patrick's, worth
£22 per annum. They are leased to Mr. Barnewall of Dunbroe,
for which he payeth £4 10s. per annum to the said dean and
chapter. All the parishioners are recusants, and usually go to
hear Mass to Swords. The foresaid Richard Kelly is curate
there.
" Garrisiowne and P aimer stowne. The church of Garestowne
(sic) is ruinous. There is in the town of Garestowne a great
void house, of nine couples long, covered with straw, whereunto
the parishioners resort to hear Mass. John Rooney, clerk, is
vicar. Palmerstowne is annexed unto Garristowne. It is an
impropriation, formed by the Lady Dungan, now married to
William Archbold, Esq. The great tithes are worth £28 per
annum. The vicar certifies that he had not above 20s. a-year
out of it for these ten years past. The chauncel is down. Almost
all the parishioners are recusants.
" Portrauen is an impropriation, farmed to Sir William Usher,
Knight, and Mr. Bartholomew Ball, worth £20 per annum.
The church and chauncel are down. The parishioners are
recusants. There are ten acres of land belonging to this church,
but detained by Mr. John Finglas, gentleman. Gabriel Ethe-
ridge, clerk, is curate there.
" Westpelston is an impropriation. John Weston of Dublin is
farmer. The tithes are usually set for a hundred barrels of corn
per annum. William Tedder is curate, and hath but thirty or
forty shillings a-year for serving the cure. The church and
chauncel are down. The parishioners are all recusants saving
one man called Thomas Millinton. They resort to Mass to the
house of the Lady Dowager of Howth. The Mass-priest's name
is Roirer Begg.
" Balmadon is an impropriation, farmed to Mr. Patrick Barne-
wall of Shallon. The great tithes are worth £60 per annum.
The church is in ruin, the chauncel down, and wants all orna-
ments befitting. There is a vicarage endowed upon the parson-
age, worth seven pounds per annum, and William Tedder is
vicar there.
" Clonmethan. The church and chauncel are up, but not decent
within. The tithes belong to Richard Powell, Master of Arts
and preacher, as one of the prebends of St. Patrick's, worth £40
per annum. There are not above ten or twelve in that parish
that come to church to hear divine service. William Tedder
aforesaid serves the cure.
" Holliwood, Grallagh, and Nail. The churches and chauncels
are ruinous The tithes are impropriate, worth per annum,
and held by the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Moore.
152 The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630.
There are not above eight persons that frequent divine service
in that parish. Mr. John Hyde, Master of Arts and preacher, is
vicar of Hollywood and curate of the rest, being worth £16 per
annum. Mass is commonly vsaid in the house of Mr. Cadle
(Cahill) and Mr. Cruce.
" Luske. The great tithes of this parish being worth near
£200 per annum, belong unto the chaunter of St. Patrick's and
the treasurer of the same. The church for the most part is
decayed and ruinous and wants all necessary ornaments. The
chauncel is in remarkable good repair and will be made better
this summer. There are two public Mass-houses, the one in the
town of Luske, belonging to a farmer called Dermott, of Raheny,
the other in the town of Rushe, upon that part of it which is
called the land of the king, which is held by one George Dela-
hyde. The priest's name is Patrick Duffe. All the parishioners,
being many, are recusants and none come to church except the
Lord Chief Baron and his family and a few more. Mr. Ed-
mond Donnellan, Bachelor of Divinity, is vicar there.
" Balrothery. The church and chauncel are out of all repair
and want of ornaments. It is an impropriation farmed by Mr.
William Peirse of Trestenagh. All the parishioners are recu-
sants except fourteen who come to church. Robert Worrell,
Master of Arts and preacher, is vicar, whose means there are
worth but £20 per annum. It is certified that Mass is said in
the gentlemen's houses of that parish, especially in Brymore and
Stephenton.
" Baldongan. The church lieth altogether ruinous wanting a
roof these many years. Thomas Doughtie, Master of Arts and
preacher, is parson, whose means there are worth but £20 per
annum. There is not one Protestant in the parish. There is
one Mr. Clarke, as they call him, a Mass-priest, that keepeth
school and sayeth Mass every Sunday and holiday in Mr.
Nicholas Fitzwilliam's house at Baldongan, unto whom all the
inhabitants round about resort to hear Mass.
" Holmepatrick. The parish church is in good repair, only it
wants a little glazing and slating. The tithes are impropriate,
farmed to Sir Barnaby Bryan. The cure is served by the said
Thomas Doughtie, for which he hath forty shillings per annum.
He certifies that there is a stipend of £4 13s. 4d. reserved by
letters patent for the curate which is detained by Mr. Derricke
Hubbarts, tenant to Sir Barnaby Bryan. There are about twenty
inhabitants in that parish who commonly frequent divine service.
All the rest are recusants.
" Balskadan. The church and chauncel are in good repair.
The great tithes belong to the treasurer of Christ Church.
There is a vicarage endowed and lately conferred on Nicholas
The t)iocese of Dublin in the year 1630. 153
Culme, clerk. It is worth as lie certifies £8 per annum. There
hath been Mass said in that parish every Sunday before and
since the proclamation in the now dwelling house of Mr.
George Taaffe, called the Grange of Balskadan, by one Patrick
Connell, a Mass-priest who dwells at the Nail. The whole
parishioners, being in number one hundred and seventy-eight
persons, usually resort to Mass, three only excepted who usually
frequent divine service.
" Ballebaghall. The church and chauncel are much out of
repair. The tithes are impropriate, estimated to be worth five
score packs of corn per annum, belonging to the Swords. Ga-
briel Etheridge, clerk, is curate, who had the small tithes, being
worth £5 per annum, for serving the cure. All the parishioners
are recusants. The curate certifies that there was wont to be
paid by the Lord Deputy, or Lords Justices of the Kingdom, to
the curate, by way of concordatum, the sum of £3 sterling, of
which he is behind these four years.
" Newcastle Juxta Lyons. The great tithes belong to the
Archdeacon of Glendalough. The church and chauncel are in
good repair. There are about thirty that come to church to
hear divine service. All the rest are recusants. Robert Jones,
clerk, is curate there.
" Clondalkan. The parish church is indifferently repaired.
The rectory belongs to the Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin. Mr.
Joseph Ware, Master of Arts and preacher, is vicar there, who
diligently dischargeth his duty, his means being worth there £20
per annum. He certifies that Mr. Browne, of Nealston, is a great
abettor and maintainer of friars and priests, who usually come to
his house.
" Esker. The church is altogether ruinous: nothing up but the
walls. The great tithes belong to the Dean of St. Patrick's. The
vicarage, by reason of the nearness of it to Clondalkan, is united
to Clondalkan, the said Mr. Ware being vicar of both, whose
means there are worth £20 per annum. Mr. Lamoruke Not-
tingham, of Ballyowen, is a principal abettor and maintainer of
priests and friars in that parish, who resort to his house.
" Lucan. The rectory is impropriate, worth besides the king's
rent, £10 per annum. The church is in good repair ; the chauncel
is ruinous. There are not above five in that parish that come
to church. Thomas Keating, clerk, is vicar there, whose means
there, as he certifies, are not above £4 per annum, and whose
wife is a recusant.
" Tassagarte. The tithes belong to Mr. Cleburne, prebend of
Tassagard, it being the corpes of his prebend, worth £30 per
annum. Robert Jones serves the cure under the prebend, and
with an allowance from him. The church is fallen down. There
154 The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630.
are about thirty of that parish who come to hear Divine service
to the parish church of Rathcoole, because the parish church is
down : all the rest of the parishioners are recusants.
" Kilmatallway. The tithes belong to the corpes of the pre-
bend, which is held by the Lord Archbishop of Dublin by com-
mendam, worth £40 per annum. The church is now a-buildmg
(i.e. being built) ; the chauncel is in good repair. There are not
above twelve in that parish that frequent Divine service : all the
rest are recusants. Robert Jones, clerk, serves the cure, who
hath all the small tithes for an allowance from the prebend.
The curate certifies that there are forty acres of land belonging
to the church to repair it, which are withheld by Mr. William
Rowles, who took away the evidence of the church.^
44 Aderge. The tithes of Aderge belong to the Vicars Choral
of St. Patrick's Church. The Lord of Ranelagh doth farm it
from them. Robert Jones, clerk, doth serve the cure. The
church wants repairs. All the parishioners are recusants.
4> Raconle. The tithes belong to the Dean of St. Patrick's.
The church is in good repair. John Hughes, Master of Arts, is
vicar there, woith £14 per annum; Robert Jones serves the cure
for him, for which he hath £4 per annum. There are thirty that
fVequent Divine service : all the rest are recusants.
4k Callioghston. The church is ruinous, and hath been so these
thirty years. Sir Richard Greame, Knight, deceased, and now
his executor, hath the tithes of that parish, and Mr. Fitzsimons,
of the Grange, under them, but by what title the curate doth not
know. The foresaid Jones is curate, who hath but twenty-five
shillings per annum for serving the cure. He certifies that there
was a vicarage endowed there, but it is swallowed up by the said
Mr. Fitzsimons. All the parishioners are recusants.
44 Tany. The tithes belong to the Archdeacon of Dublin. The
church is ruinous ; there are only two householders in that parish
that come to church. There is one John Cawhell (Cahill), a
priest, that commonly says Mass at Dundrum and Ballawly. Mr.
Richard Prescott, Master of Arts and preacher, serves the cure.
The Archdeaconry of Dublin is worth per annum a hundred
pounds sterling.
44 Tawlagh and Templeoge. The tithes of Tawlagh belong to
the Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin. The church and chauncel
are in good repair and decency. There are between three and
four score that frequent Divine service and sermon. There is
Mass frequently said in the parish of Tawlagh, viz., in the towns
of Ballyneskorney, Balliman, Kilnarden, and Jobstown, some-
times in one man's house, sometimes in another, in those towns.
The tithes of Templeoge are impropriate. Sir William Parsons,
knight and baronet, is farmer. The church is ruinous. John
The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630. 155
Hogben, clerk, serves the cure, which is worth £5 per annum.
The priests are maintained and Mass frequently said in the houses
of Adam Talbott of Belgart, Barnaby Rely (Reilly) of Timon,
Mrs. Ellenore Talbott and Mrs. Henry Talbott of Templeoge,
and Pierse Archbold of Knocklin, which Pierse Archbold doth
maintain a Popish schoolmaster in his town. The said Hogben
is Vicar of Tawlagh, which is worth £20 per annum.
" Cromlyn. The church and chauncel are in good repair. The
one-half of the tithe belongs to the Dean and Chapter of St.
Patrick's, the other half to the petty canons of the same. The
whole tithe is worth about £60 per annum. John Hughes,
Master of Arts, one of the petty canons of St. Patrick's, discharges
the cure. All the parishioners, for the most part, are recusants.
" Rathfarnam. The church is ruinous. The tithe belongs to
the Archdeacon of Dublin. There are about sixty persons that
frequent divine service.
44 Whyte- Church. [No returns.]
" Creagh. [Id.]
" Balleformott. [Id].
44 P aimer stowne. [-Id.]
44 Finglas. The church and chauncel are in very good repair
and decency. The parsonage is the corpes of the Chancellor-
ship of St. Patrick's. There is a vicarage endowed upon the
parsonage. Mr. Robert Willson, Bachelor of Divinity and
preacher, is vicar, the vicarage being worth £20 per annum.
The number of communicants the last Easter, was about one
hundred and fifty. There is a common Mass house, frequented
publicly since the proclamation, in the town of St. Margaret's, in
the said parish, yet divers priests, Jesuits and Friars, whose
names the vicar cannot yet learn, have recourse unto the houses
of Sir Christopher Plunkett, knight, Robert Barnewall of Dun-
broe, Esq., Henry Sedgrave of the Little Cabragh, gentleman,
and Thomas Warren of Harristown, yeoman, as their chief mam-
tamers, adherents, and abettors.
44 Cloghran-Hydert is an impropriation of the city of Dublin,
the tithes thereof being worth £20 per annum. The said Mr.
Willson is curate there, who hath but forty-five shillings per an-
num for serving the cure. There is never a Protestant in the
whole parish.
'* CastleknocJce. The church is ruinous. The great tithes be-
long to the prebend of Castleknocke. One Roger Goode,
preacher, is vicar there, his vicarage being worth twenty marks
per annum. The most of the parishioners are recusants, yet the
last Easter there were above twenty communicants. There are
two priests, the one named Mr. Harris, the other Patrick Gar-
gan, who commonly frequent that parish.
156 The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630.
" Clomillagli. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The
tithes are impropriate. Mr. Luttrell, of Luttrellstown, is farmer,
and the foresaid Roger Goode is curate. There is one Thady
Uuffe, a Popish schoolmaster in that parish.
" Mallahydert is the corpes of the prebend of the same. The
said Goode is curate. The church and chauncel are ruinous.
'* Cowlocke. [No returns.]
" Ratheny. [Id.]
" Clontarfe. [Id]
" Drumconragh, alias Clonturke. [Id]
" Baltimore. The tithes belong and are divided between the
treasurer of St. Patrick's and the chaunter of the same, being
nearly worth £60 per annum. The church and chauncel are
not in repair. The cure is served by Silvester Cooley, minis-
ter, who certifies that he hath the small tithes for serving the
cure. There are but very few Protestants in this parish. The
priest's name that sayeth Mass in this parish is Walter Fitz-
gerald.
" Holliwood. — 'Wicklow. The church and chauncel are fallen
down to the ground. The tithes of the rectory, being worth
£16 per annum, belong to Apollo Waller, Master of Arts, who
is parson. One Maurice Mulconry, Bachelor of Arts, is vicar,
whose vicarage is worth £8 per annum. There is in this parish
and Donard, some sixteen that frequent divine service.
" Donard. The church and chauncel are fallen down to the
ground. The rectory is impropriate, held by the Lord Viscount
Netterville, being worth £16 per annum. The foresaid Maurice
O'Mulconry is vicar there, it being worth £8 per annum.
** Donoghmore-o-Maly. The church and chauncel are down to
the ground. The tithes being worth about £30 per annum,
belong to Mr. Michael Belarby and Mr. Robert Willson, pre-
bend thereof. Patrick Maguire, clerk, is vicar of the same, which
is worth unto him about £8 per annum. All the parishioners
except Mr. Charles Vallentine are recusants.
" Yago. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The tithes
belong to Mr. Doughtie, prebend thereof, set for £18 per annum.
There are some five Protestant families that frequent Divine ser-
vice. Matthias Wattson, Master of Arts and preacher, is curate,
who hath for serving the cure but forty shillings per annum.
" Tipperkevin. The church is fallen down. The tithes, being
worth £26 per annum, belong to the corpes of the prebend.
Sylvester Cooley aforesaid is curate, who hath £4 per annum
for serving the cure. The foresaid Walter Fitzgerald, the
Mass-priest, sayeth Mass in that parish. Sir Robert Oglethorpe,
Knight, and Alexander Eustace, of Dowdisstowne, are great
abettors and maintainers of priests.
The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630. 157
" Eamoore. The church and chauncel are down. The tithes
are impropriate, worth about £60 per annum. All the parishi-
oners, except Mr. Peisly, are recusants. William Pils worth,
Master of Arts and preacher, is vicar there, it being worth £16
per annum. There is a priest in that parish who says Mass
commonly in that parish.
" Burgage. The church is fallen down and the chauncel un-
covered The tithes, being worth £10 per annum, belong to
the Chaunter of St. Patrick's, Dublin. All the parishioners are
recusants except Mr. Art Kavanagh. The foresaid Silvester
Cooley is curate, who hath the small tithes, being worth about
£5 per annum, for serving the cure. Nicholas Casey, a Mass-
priest, dwelling at Fartwell, says Mass commonly in that parish.
" Boyestowne. The church and chauncel are out of repair.
The tithes, being worth about £16 per annum, belong to the
lord archbishop of Dublin ad mensam. Silvester Cooley, clerk,
is curate there. All the parishioners are recusants. Donnogh
M'Donnell Oge, of Tulfarris, is a great abettor and maintainer
of priests. There is one Walter Fitzgerald, a Mass-priest, that
says Mass in the said Donnogh's house and in other places.
" Cottlanstowne. The church and chauncel are in good re-
pair. The tithes, being worth about £10 per annum, are held
by Sir Thomas Hibbotts, knight. The said Cooley reads prayers
to Sir Thomas Hibbotts when he is there, and hath no certain
stipend except what Sir Thomas pleases to give him.
** Donlavan. The church and chauncel are uncovered. The
tithes, being worth £30 per annum, belong to Mr. William
Goulburne, prebend thereof. All the parishioners are recusants.
Patrick Magwire, clerk, is curate there, who hath £5 per an-
num for serving the cure.
" Giltowne and Brenockston. The church of Giltowne is
down. The tithes are impropriate, being worth, as is certified,
£100 per annum, held by Sir James Carroll, knight. The fore-
said Mathias Watson is curate, who hath but four pounds for
serving the cure. There are three Protestant families in that
parish that come to church to Kilcullen, where the said Watson
preacheth. The foresaid Walter Fitzgerald, and one Leishan, a
priest, do usually frequent those parts. The tithe of Brenockston
is set for £3 per annum, and belongs to the Dean and Chapter
of St. Patrick's.
"Balliboght. The church and chauncel are fallen to the
ground The tithes are impropriate, held by Sir Henry Bea-
linge, knight. The value is not certified by the curate, Maurice
O'Mulconry aforesaid, who hath but Qfteen shillings for serving
the cure.
** Tipper wid Heynstown. The church of Tipper is roofed,
158 The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630.
but not in repair. The tithes thereof belong to the lord bishop
of Clonfert, who is prebend thereof, being worth about thirty
pounds per annum. The foresaid Silvester Cooley is curate
there, who hath four pounds for serving the cure. There are
two Mass-priests that say Mass in that parish, the one named
Laurence Sutton, and the other David Sutton.
" Killheele and Kilbride. These two are two impropnations
held by Mr. Allen, of St. Wollstan's. The churches and chaun-
cels are very ruinous.
" Bray. The church is somewhat ruined by the last great
storm. The chauncel is in reasonable good repair. The tithes
are irnpropriate, held by William Plunkett of Dublin, Esq ,
being worth £65 sterling per annum, who allows to Mr. Simon
Swayne, vicar thereof, the small tithes, being worth but £8 per
annum. There are but sixteen in that parish that frequent
divine service. Every gentleman thereabout hath a priest or a
friar for their domestic chaplain, and maintains and abetts them,
viz., Theobald Walsh, of Carrickmaine, doth relieve and abett
one Turlogh Reily, a Mass- priest, and one Patrick ^Comin, &
friar, who celebrate Mass, and execute their function in his
mansion house of Carrickmayne, frequented by neighbouring
towns publicly : Mr. Robert Barnewall, of Shankill, doth likewise
relieve and abett one Teige O'Murrogbowe, a friar, and Mary
Barnewall, his own sister, being a nun, which friar says Mass in
the Castle of Shankill: Joane Eustace of Ouldcourt, widow,
doth likewise abett and relieve one Dermott Byrne, a Mass-
priest, who celebrates Mass in her mansion-house of Ouldcourt :
William Wolverston, of Stillorgan, Esq., during his abode there
hath one John Cawell, a Mass-priest, to celebrate Mass in his
house. Besides that, divers times, since the proclamation of the
first of April, the Vicar of Bray hath seen, as he certifies,
swarms of friars in those paits who were relieved and enter-
tained by the said gentlemen, seldom returning to their convents
without the benevolence of the poorer sort, to the great im-
poverishment of the people.
" Delgany. The church and chauncel are down. Thomas
Gilbert, Master of Arts and preacher, is parson thereof. The
tithes, being worth £60 per annum, are in lease with Justice
Maynard, with a reservation of £20 sterling to the parson.
William Cornwall, clerk, serves the cure, who hath but £4 per
annum. There are but four in that parish that come to divine
service.
" Newcastle Mount Gyntgan. The church is down ; the
chauncel covered, but not decent within. The great tithes are
irnpropriate, held by John Wolverston, worth £150 per annum.
William Cornwall is vicar there, whose jneans are worth but
The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630. 159
£15 per annum, part of his means being kept from him by the
said John Wolverston. There are but four-and-twenty that
come to church in that parish.
" Stagony. The church and chauncel of Powerscourt, where
the parishioners visit now, are in very good repair and decency.
The great tithes, being worth £50 per annum, belong to Amb-
rose Aingier, Master of Arts and preacher, prebend thereof.
There is one Peter Birmingham of Churchtowne, that is a great
abbettor of Popish priests ; he entertains them in his house, and
hath Mass commonly said there. George Leisley, Master of
Arts and preacher, is curate there, who hath £20 per annum for
his pains. There are in that part about two hundred that usu-
ally frequent divine service.
" Rathmichael. The church is in repair, but not decent with-
in. The chauncel is almost down. The great tithes, being worth
£20 per annum, belong unto the corpes of the prebend. Simon
Swayne, clerk, is vicar there, which vicarage as he certifies is
worth but £8 per annum. There are but eight persons that
frequent divine service besides the vicar and his family.
" Killcole. The church and chauncel are both in great decay
and altogether unfurnished. The great tithes being worth £50
per annum, are held by Mr. Francis Dade. William Cornewall
aforesaid is curate, who hath but £5 per annum for his pains, as
he certifies. There are but two in that parish that frequent
divine service.
" Kilmakinocke. The church of Kilmakinocke wanteth a
roof and all other ornaments befitting, saving a book of Common
Prayer and a font. The tithes are impropriate, worth about
£48 per annum, belonging unto Mr. Dongan, who allows the
small tithe, being worth £8 per annum, to Thomas Davis,
clerk, curate thereof for serving the cure. .There are not above
four in that parish that resort to church to hear divine service.
James McFelim, of Killrone, George Archbald of Glencormacke,
and Cahir O'Toole, of Kilmahinocke, are great abettors and
harborers of friars and priests, and have Mass said commonly in
their houses by one Dermott Byrne, a Mass-priest.
" Connagh. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The
tithes belong ad mensam Archiepiscopi Dullinensis; being long
since leased out among other things for a small rent, they are
now held by Mr. Francis Dade, worth about £30 per annum.
The said Thomas Davys is curate there, who hath £6 per annum
for serving the cure. There are but fourteen poor laborers that
frequent divine service. Mr James Walshe, of Connagh, keeps
both friars and priests in his house to say Mass there, and doth
abet one Garret Warren, a Popish schoolmaster, in the town of
Connagh, to teach the principles of that religion.
160 The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630.
" Tullogh. The church of Tullogh is somewhat ruined by
the late storms. The roof of the chauncel is almost down. The
tithes being worth about £64 per annum, belong to Christ
Church, Dublin. The said Simon Swayne is curate, who is
allowed the small tithes amounting to £5 per annum for serving
the cure. There is not one in that parish that resorts to church
to hear divine service.
" Kilternan. The church and chauncel are down. The tithes
are impropriate, belonging to Sir Thomas Fitzwilliams, worth
£23 sterling per annum. The foresaid Symon Swayne is curate,
who is allowed the small tithes, being worth £5 per annum, for
serving the cure. All the parishioners are recusants.
" Clonkeene alias Grainge. The church is somewhat un-
covered with the late storms. The tithes belong to the vicar of
Christ Church, worth £80 per annum. The said Symon Swayne
is curate, who is allowed £7 sterling for serving the cure. The
number frequenting divine service exceeds not twenty-four
persons.
" Dalkey. The church is ruinous, the chauncel hath no roof.
The tithes being worth £18 per annum, are impropriate.
William Morris Loyd, clerk, is curate, who is allowed £4 per
annum for serving the cure. There is not one that cometh to
church but the said curate's family, saving that in fishing-time
there are many English and Scots that come to morning and
evening prayers.
" Mounctowne. The church and chauncel are in good repair,
but want decency and some necessaries within. The tithes are
impropriate, worth about £100 per annum, belonging unto Sir
Gerrott Aylmer, Knight, Mr. Henry Chivers, of Mounctown, and
Mr. John Fagan, of Feltrim. The said Maurice Loyd is curate
who hath but five or six pounds per annum for serving the cure.
There is a house in the town of Mounctowne converted from a
dwelling house to be a Mass-house, as is gathered by the curate,
from the fact that first it is commonly called the Mass-house ;
secondly, by the report of Turlough Reily, the Mass-priest, that
it was bestowed upon him ; and lastly, by the continual use of
saying Mass therein. And when the gentlemen thereabout, viz.,
Mr. Henry Chievers, of Mounctowne ; Mr. James Goodman, of
Laghnanston, arid Mr. Henry Walshe, of Dalkey, be pleased to
have Mass said in their own houses and castles, they have it, and
that not seldom, where the people of the parishes about resort, no
less than they use to do when they go to the Mass-house afore-
said.
" Killeny. The church and chauncel of Killenyn want a
roof and ornaments. The tithe belongs to the Dean of Christ
Church, being worth & 24 per annum, The said Morris Loyd
The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630. 161
is curate, who is allowed for serving of the cure £(3 per annum.
There is not any Protestant in that parish. The said curate
certifies that there is a house lately given by Mr. James Good-
man, of Laughnanstown, to be a schoolhouse, who keepeth a
young man, a Papist, there, to teach his own children and his
neighbours' children.
** Dromkey and Castle M^Adam. The church and chauncel
are down. The tithes belong to Thomas Richmond, clerk,
rector of Dromkey, being worth about £15 per annum. There
comes not any to church there saving the rector's own family.
He certifies that John Joyce, of Wicklow, and divers others,
detain from him his glebe land and several other things be-
longing to his parsonage, and that he is not able to sue for his
right, he being very poor. Alexander Tode, of Ballemoninge,
in the parish of Castle M'Adam, doth abet and releave one
Patrick M'Atere, a Mass-priest, who sayeth Mass every Sunday
in his house, whereunto all the neighbours commonly resort ; as
also one Edward Quyn, a young Mass-priest, intituled the pastor
of Dromkey, sayeth Mass every Sunday in the parishes of Drom-
key^ and Wicklow, unto whom three or four hundred of the
parishioners resort to hear Mass.
" Wickloe. The church and chauncel of Wicklow are covered,
but as yet are not decent within. The great tithes belong to
Apollo Waller, prebend thereof, worth £200 per annum, but
leased to Sir William Usher, Knight. Mr. Balthazar Fox,
Master of Arts and preacher, is vicar thereof, which vicarage is
worth £40 per annum. He certifies that there are divers things
swallowed up now by laymen from him, which belong to hig
vicarage, which have been partly in his own possession and partly
in the possession of his predecessors, vicars of Wicklow, viz.,
two parcels of land adjoining to Wicklow, called by the names
of Maudelins, which in former times hath been an oratory, and
Farren Eglus, both of which are detained from the Church by
one James Byrne, of Ballenurrin, gentleman, a Papist. There
is also a parcel of land called Glanely, held by one Denis
Coniam, of Glanely, which land was alienated by his father,
Hugh Coniam, some time vicar of Wicklow. There is a public
Mass- house erected in the parish of Wicklow, in a village called
Kilmurry, upon the land of Teige-Oge-Byrne, of Ballenvalla.
There are also divers other houses in the parish of Wicklow
where the priests have and do, notwithstanding the proclama-
tion, celebrate mass; as in the house of Cormucke Quyn, of
Monishrewly, gentleman ; Edward Walshe, of Clonmanige, Esq. ;
Bran Byine, of Courtfold, gentleman : Bran Byrne, of Kilboy,
gentleman ; and Denis Coniam, of Glanely. The names of the seve-
ral Mass-priests that exercise their functions in the forenameci
162 The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630.
houses, viz., one Edraond Quyn, educated in one of the friaries in
Dublin ; Gale O'Conly, who was questioned for the murder of Mr.
Pont ; James OTrenor and Patrick O'Connell, two northern men.
There are a hundred threescore and odd in the parish of Wicklow
that frequent the church to hear divine service and sermon.
" Einshboen. The church is down ; the chauncel was built
within these two years, and covered with slate, but it hath lately
been blown down by the great storms. The tithes, being worth
£80 per annum, belong to William Bulkeley, Master of Arts and
preacher, rector thereof: Nicholas Whyte serves the cure. All
the parishioners are recusants, except Laurence Bradshawe, of
Donganston, and his family. There is one James Trew, a Mass-
priest, that says Mass in the gentlemen's houses of that parish.
" Rathdrome. The church and chauncel of Rathdrome are in
repair. The great tithes are impropriate, worth £20 per annum.
Sir William Parson, Knight and Baronet, and Sir William
Usher, Knight, arc farmers or lessees to the mayor or sheriff of
Dublin. After the murder of Mr. Pont, late vicar, leaving no
means to maintain his wife and children, the mayor, i.e.,
Alderman Barry, and sheriffs presented Robert Pont, son to the
said Mr. Pont, to be vicar, the vicarage now not exceeding £10
per annum. Theobald Doyle, clerk, serves the cure for him.
.the parishioners for the most part are recusants, except the
soldiers who now lie in garrison at Moycredin in the Ranlaglis.
" Glandelagh and Deretossori/. The churches and chauncels
are altogether out of repair. The tithes belong to the lord arch •
bishop ; worth £40 Irish per annum, but leased among other
things to the lord of Ranelagh : Nicholas Whyte is curate, who
is allowed £5 per annum for serving the cure. There are no
Protestants in that parish. There is a Mass-priest called Sir
Neale, who commonly says Mass within that parish ; besides, on
St. Kevin's day, there do infinite number of people and great
store of friars and priests resort to Glandelagh to go in pilgri-
mage, and there offer unto the priests and friars.
" Killmacowe, Tempiemicliael, and Kilbride. The churches
and chauncels of all three are altogether ruinous. The great
tithes belong ad mensam Archiepiscopi Dublinemis, all worth
about £40 per annum, but leased out long since for a small
rant. The foresail Nicholas Whyte is curate, who hath £l> 10s.
for serving the cure. All the parishioners are recusants. The
Mass-priests' names that frequent these parishes and commonly
say Mass there are Daniel O'Dowlan and James O'Trenery.
" Entirely. The church and chauncel are altogether ruinous.
The great tithes, being worth £23 per annum, are impropriate.
The Lord Esmond is fanner. The said Whyte is curate, who
hath three pounds sterling for serving the cure. There are not
The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630. 163
above six or seven that come to church. The foresaid Mass-
priest, James OTrenery, doth say Mass in this parish.
" KilLpoole. The church and chauncel are altogether ruin-
ous. The great tithes, being worth £24 per annum, are im-
propriate. John Holverston, gentleman, is farmer. Mr. Bal-
thazar Fox, aforesaid, is curate there, who is allowed the small
tithes, being worth £3 per annum, for serving the cure.
" Arckloe, Templereny, and Killenoij. The church of Arklow
wants some covering. The chauncel is in good repair, only it
wants ornaments within. The great tithes are impropriate,
worth about £40 per annum. Mr. Balthazar Fox is vicar
there, whose vicarage is set for £17 per annum, out of which he
allows to one Nicholas Whyte, curate there, £5 sterling per an-
num. There are about twenty Protestants in the parish of Ark-
low. The vicar certifies that he is informed that there is a Mass-
house erected upon the land of Ballerahen. The Mass- priest
that says Mass in that parish is named Sir Donnell. The rest
Si.e. Templereny and Killenoy) are chapels belonging to Ark-
ow.
" Inch and Kilgprman. The church of the Inche is ruinous,
but the chauncel is in good repair, only it wants ornaments.
The great tithes of both belong ad mensam Archiepiscopi Dublin-
ensis, worth £16 per annum. John Leigh, clerk and preacher,
is vicar of the Inche, whose vicarage is worth £12 per annum.
There are in that parish about fifty or sixty that frequent divine
service. As for Killgorman, the church and chauncel are alto-
gether in decay. Theobald Doyle, clerk, is vicar there, whose
vicarage is worth but £4 per annum, and, as he certifies, there
are about twenty that go to church in that parish.
" Ballintemple. The church and chauncel are very ruinous.
The great tithes are impropriate ; Sir William Parsons is farmer.
Theobald Doyle, aforesaid, is curate, who hath, as he certifies,
twenty shillings per annum for serving the cure.
" Killahurler. The body of the church is in good repair,
but the chauncel is down to the ground. The tithes belong to
the Dean of Christ's Church, being worth £15 per annum, which
are leased to Brien M'Edmond and Gilpatrick M'Melaghlin for
two boatloads of wood per annum. They allow the curate
but thirty shillings per annum.
" Athy. The church and chauncel of Athy are in good
repair. The tithes are impropriate, worth £36 per annum, in
the possession of George Walker and Nicholas Mulhale. There
are about one hundred and fifty that frequent divine service.
William Pinsent, Master of Arts and preacher, is curate there.
" Kilberry. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The
tithes, being worth £120 per annum, belong to the Dean of St.
11 B
164 The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630.
Patrick's, but in lease with Thomas Greames, Esq. The said
William Pinsent is curate, for which he is allowed but £6 per
annum. There are about a dozen families in that parish that
frequent the church of Athy to hear divine service and sermon.
" Raban, alias Churchtowne. The church and chauncel are
ruinous. The tithes, being worth a hundred marks, are impro-
priate, in the possession of the executors of Sir Walter Dongan,
baronet, deceased, out of which they allow the said Mr. Pinsent
for serving the cure but £4 per annum, besides the book-money.
There are likewise twenty Protestant families in that parish that
frequent the church of Athy as aforesaid.
" Nicholston. The church and chauncel are ruinous, the
land waste, and nobody liveth on it.
Moone. The church and chauncel are ruinous, the^ tithe being
worth £50 per annum ; the tithes are impropriate, in the pos-
session of William Archibold, Esq., who allows the said Mr.
Pinsent, for serving the cure, but fifty Shillings and the book-
money. There is but one Protestant family in this parish.
41 Tanckardston. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The
tithes, being worth £30 per annum, belong to Thomas Hoven-
don, Esq. Edmond Hynde, clerk, is curate, whose stipend is
but £4 per annum for serving the cure.
" Monmahenocke. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The
tithes belong to the Lord Bishop of Kildare, being prebend
thereof. Edmond Hynde, clerk, serves the cure under his
lordship. All the parishioners are recusants.
" Castledermott. The body of the church is partly ruinous.
The chauncel is reasonably well repaired, but wants all necessary
ornaments. The great tithes, being worth four score marks
sterling per annum, are impropriate. John Walshe, clerk, is
vicar, the vicarage being worth forty marks sterling per annum.
There are but three families that frequent divine service in that
parish. There is one Michael Dullroy, a Mass-priest, that sayeth
Mass in that parish.
" Kiltea. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The tithes,
being worth £30 per annum, are impropriate, and belong to
Walshe Peppard. The foresaid Edmond Hynde is vicar there.
All the parishioners are recusants.
" Graingenossnaivan. The church and chauncel are ruinous.
The tithes are impropriate, valued at £14 per annum. Sir
Nicholas Whyte is farmer, who alloweth thirty shillings per
annum to the said Hynde for serving the cure. All the pa-
rishioners are recusants.
** Beatan. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The tithes,
being worth £16 per annum, are impropriate. Sir William
, knight and baronet, is fanner. The said Hynde is
fhe Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630. 165
curate, who is allowed fifty shillings sterling for serving the
cure. All the parishioners are recusants.
" Killhelan. The body of the church is ruinous, the chauncel
is repaired, but wants necessary ornaments. The tithes are
impropriate, being worth £24 per annum. John Walshe afore-
said is vicar there, his vicarage being worth £12 per annum.
All the parishioners are recusants. There is a priest that sayeth
Mass in that parish, called Andrew Dullroy.
" Tymolin. The church and chancel are ruinous. The tithes
being worth £24 per annum, belong to Sir Gerrott Aylmer,
farmer thereof. The foresaid John Walshe is curate, and is
allowed fifty shillings for serving the cure. The parishioners
are all recusants, and the foresaid Andrew Dullroy is the Mass-
priest there.
" Grany. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The tithes,
being worth £41 per annum, are impropriate. John Walsh
aforesaid is curate, who was allowed formerly by Sir Gerrott
Aylmer, impropriater, but forty shillings for serving the cure,
who now hath taken away the same, and will allow nothing.
The parishioners are all recusants. The said Andrew Dullroy
is Mass-priest there.
it Norroghmore. The church and chauncel are ruinous, and
want all necessary ornaments. The tithes are impropriate, worth
four score pounds per annum, held by Mr. Maurice Eustace,
impropriater. Nicholas Walshe, clerk, is vicar there, who hath
only the small tithes, being worth £15 per annum. All the
parishioners are recusants. There is one Morris Dowlinge that
sayeth Mass in that parish commonly,
" Calvestowne. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The
tithes are impropriate, worth £60 per annum, held by one Peter
Sarsfield, impropriator. Edward Jones, clerk, is vicar there ; it
is worth to him £6 per annum. There are about fifteen Pro-
testants, all poor men, in that parish.
" Ouske. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The tithes
belong to Edward Jones aforesaid, rector of the same, being
worth £10 per annum. There are not above seven persons that
frequent the church to hear divine service.
" Fontstowne. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The
tithes are impropriate, worth £40 per annum. Henry Bell,
preacher, vicar there, the vicarage being worth £12 or £J4 per
annum. All the parishioners are recusants.
" Killcullen. The church and chauncel are in reasonable
good repair, and what is wanting will soon be amended. The
tithes, being worth £120 per annum, belong to the Chaunter
and Chancellor of Christ Church, Dublin. Mathias Watson,
Master of Arts and preacher, is curate there, who is allowed
1 66 The Diocese of Dublin in the year 1630.
£0 13s. 4d. for serving the cure. There are in that parish six-
teen Protestant families. Shane Lisliawc and Walter Fitzgerald,
both Mass-priests, frequent that parish and say Mass there.
" Leixlipe. The church and chauncel are ruinous. The
tithes are impropriate, worth ... per annum. Mr. Gerrott
Whyte is farmer; Thomas Keatinge, clerk, is curate. For
serving the cure he hath £4 per annum. All the parishioners,
except one or two families, are recusants.
" Confie. The church and chauncel are in good repair. The
tithes, being worth ... per annum, are impropriate, held by Mr.
Fagan of Feltrim. The said Keatinge is curate ; for serving
the cure he hath £4 per annum. All the parishioners are
recusants.
" Donacamper The church and chauncel are in reasonable
good repair. The tithes are impropriate, worth ... per annum,
held by Mr. Allen, of St. Wolston's ; the said Keatinge is curate.
" Trisledillon. [No returns.]
" Straffan. The body of the church is ruinous ; the chauncel
is well covered, but wants glazing and necessary ornaments. The
tithes, being worth £36 per annum, are impropriate, belonging
to Mr. James DufTe of Dublin, merchant. Edward Pierse,
clerk, is vicar there, whose vicarage there is worth £12 per
annum. There are not above ten persons that frequent divine
service in that parish.
" Teagtoe. [No returns.]
" Laraghbrine. The church is in good repair, but the roof
of the chauncel is uncovered, The tithes are worth £100 per
annum, belonging to Mr. John Parker, prebend of Mynothe ;
the foresaid Thomas Keatinge is vicar there, the same being
worth £10 per annum. All the parishioners are recusants.
" Kildroght. [No returns.]
" Killadowan. [No returns.]
" Kinneigh. The church and chauncel are altogether ruinous.
The great tithes, being worth £18 per annum, belong to the
Lord Bishop of Kildare and the Vicars Choral of St. Patrick's.
All the parishioners are recusants. James Kean, 'clerk, is vicar
there, his vicarage being worth £9 per annum; John Walshe,
clerk, serves the cure for him, for which he hath £4 per
annum.
" LAUNCELOT DUBLIN".
167
THE SECOND EVE.
A CYNICAL philosopher might ask the self-evolving hierophants
of the " Bible-and-the-Bible-only " school, what importance, if
any, they may attach to the last verse in the last chapter of St.
John's gospel. Did the son of Zebedee and Salome undertake
to supply, — if not all, at least the most salient, — omissions of the
synoptics? or, confining himself to the polemical occasion of
his writing, choose from his unlimited store of theantropical
facts only what was essential to establish the philosophy of the
Divine Spirit against the Cerinthian myths, and to confound the
Nicolaites and the rest of " antichrists " ? What about the
" many other signs" that " are not written in this book"? The
divine mystagogue is of opinion that the world itself could not
contain the '* many other things " — if they were written ; and this
assertion must ex rei natura be extended to the three synoptical
gospels ; and thus, at the very outset, the " written word, the only
rule", etc., is reduced to an absurdity. If we extend our faith to the
things that are written because we know the disciples' testimony
to be true, for the same formal reason we should believe in the
" many other things " not written, were they but known to us.
And if this be true of facts, may it not also be true of theoretical
truths ? of the innumerable preachments and explanations, the
doctrinal applications of, the immediate and mediate deductions
from, those truths or first principles ? Christianity had already
taken possession of the known world ere the Evangelists or
Sacred Epistolographers had written a single line ; so that the
question resolves itself simply to this : Is there, or is there not,
from the history of dogma an a priori evidence, strong and inde-
feasible, in favour of Tradition, as bringing unto us, and bearing
on to the end of time, a floating mass of unwritten truth ? Again,
is not your theory of the written word expressly condemned by
the written word itself ? and do you not more conform to the
Demiurgos of the platonics than to the Logos of John, by that
very contradictio in terminis — " The Bible and the Bible only" —
that silly old maid and effete foster-mother of the " no-popery "
cries, of which we have had so gushing a plenitude in these
latter days? That the "moral contents of Christianity" are
alone of any real importance, is a first principle of that school of
which Strauss and Renan are the representives ; this, however,
would not be an answer, but a mere evasion of our philosopher's
query. If his biblical friends were of sufficiently stoical a tem-
perament, they would fall back on the saving clause of old about
" all things under the sun ", etc. ; or perhaps on the principle
which Voltaire adopted from a heathen author, — which would
the Second flee.
be by the way, but a legitimate conclusion from their own first
premiss,— that •• incredulity is the beginning of wisdom". Our
imaginary philosopher himself would be the last person to expect
a more satisfactory parry to his cruel hit. His question answered
itself; between Catholicity and pyrrhonism there is no medium.
Mid the darkness, then, that covers the earth, and the mist the
people, we look around for a suitable oasis whereon to rest while
we apply our principles. The star of Jacob has arisen to guide
our path; the Catholic world is all astir; " ipse dies pulchro dia-
tinguitur ordine rerum '; and we are compelled to follow in the
wake of Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthassar, over the dreary
desert, on to the Cave of Bethlehem ! Here at once is recog-
nized the second great epoch in the theological history (so to
speak) of man. The old order is reversed ; the " first-born of
every creature " comes to new-create man's first creation, and
the mercy of the second seasons the justice of the first. This is
no prosopopoeia ; we are in presence of the Second A dam ; and
we see thus early the force of the doctrinal truth of St. Paul's
antitheses in his epistle to the Romans and his first epistle to
the Corinthians. But does not this fact immediately force upon
our observation another one, not inconsequential, because neces-
sarily correlative? Another syncresis is presented in the person
of the second Eve, — " They found the Child with Mary". On
reading the 15th verse of Genes, iii. with this simple sentence,
the inseparable connection of the two contrasts, alluded to,
becomes evident. We assert then, in the first place, that there
is no doctrinal point more strongly affirmed by Tradition than
the antithesis between the first and the second Eve. This will
lend additional interest to a further consideration as to the
natural consequences of such antithesis. As to the bibliolaters to
whom, in the beginning of this article, we adverted, we merely
say here — " tua res agitur paries cum proxiinus ardel ". But to
men of " High Church" tastes we might say : Give up at present
the thought of reviving the dreams of Usher ; do not declare
Rome the intruder, and Augustine, sent from thence, a schis-
matic ; feel your way ; instead of basing your apostolical founda-
tions merely upon a vague text of St. Paul, or an epigram of
Martial, let us appeal to those of whom we all boast as the
parent stock — let us call up the spirits of the mighty dead who
witnessed for Christianity in the first two or three centuries ; we
may all become syncretists for the nonce, and hear what they
have to say, and see how far we are their kinsmen in the matter.
If we take the patristic literature of the prae-Nicene period, the
predominant, substantive idea of the Blessed Virgin is univer-
sally _this: she is the Second Eve. In one of the latest flowers
of his own golden anthology, Dr. Newman justly calls this the
The Second Eve. 169
" rudimental teaching of antiquity "; and indeed, for didactical
purposes, this aspect of the Virgin's person and office may be
said to have held the place which, after Ephesus, was assigned
to " Theotocos ". To understand the rationale of the title
" Second Eve", we must recal to mind the supernatural relation
of Adam and Eve to their posterity, and their own mutual rela-
tion in the Fall. With Adam, as the head and representative,
lay the actual, immediate fate of the human race. Eve was
given to him as a coadjutor; but her co-operation was not
necessary for good or evil. Her specific relation to the human
race was implied in that title of her dignity, " Mother of all the
living ". Thus far in theory. Now, although Eve, as a non-
necessary cause, would not a priori be expected to determine,
even mediately, the good or evil of our spiritual destiny, yet, de
facto, she became the efficacious cause of the evil ; the whole
thing may be morally ascribed to her, by reason of her active,
positive, sufficient agency in regard to Adam, the necessary cause ;
— that is to say, judging after the event, Eve's part was a con-
dition sine qua non. Now, the " woman" mentioned in the 15th
verse of Genesis iii., is, according to the doctrine of antiquity,
Mary, the mother of the Second Adam — the " seed of the
woman"; hence the title of" Second Eve". If we compare the
history of the Fall with the prophecy in the 15th verse of same
chapter of Genesis, the exegetical result is to come to one inevi-
table conclusion, that, viz., the parts of the various actors are to
be diametrically reversed, relatively to the result of each. Eve
entered upon her office in a state of absolute sinlessness and
grace ; she failed ; she inaugurated the reign of sin. Mary
entered upon the same office ; she did not fail, but inaugurated
the reign of Grace. The second Eve then, of necessity, should
be equally endowed as the first ; should be from the very begin-
ning created in sinlessness and grace to fit her for the office. It
would be an alogism to say that thus much, at least, was not
required from the nature of the case in se and absolutely, as well
as relatively, in the parallelism of the Fathers. We have referred
to the active agency of the first Eve. The active parts, likewise,
of the second Eve and the Second Adam in the work of restora-
tion were synergistic. As the history of the Incarnation stands,
Mary is a sine qua non to its accomplishment. She could not
then be less than Eve ; the Mother of God too could not be less
than the mother of men. The second Eve was to crush the
serpent, as the serpent crushed the first Eve ; but for this the
second Eve could never be in his malefic power, as the first was ;
that is to say, the antecedent grace, — necessarily given in the
cases of both Eves for their person and office, — while it failed in
the first instance, should be triumphant in the case of the second
The Second Eve.
Eve. And this is simply and solely the Immaculate Conception.
Of the lirst Eve it is written, — " bone of my bone" ; of the second
Eve, — "full of grace" (KzyapiTujJLZvi}).
In referring to the Fathers, we select passages to be reckoned
" non numero sed pondere' ; and will but indicate the substantive
sense in each, referring our readers to the originals.
St. Justin M, (A.D. 120—165), Trypk. 100; Irenaeus (120—
200), adv. liaer. iii. 22, 34 ; Tertullian (160—240), J)e Cam.
Christ. 17. These three fathers represent respectively Palestine,
Asia Minor and Gaul, Africa and Rome. Justin speaks of the
Virgin as the means whereby the work of the serpent was
undone. Irenaeus, the disciple of Polycarp, who was the inti-
mate associate of St. John, says that the Virgin was^" to the
whole human race the cause of salvation". The testimony of
Tertullian is to the same effect,— that Mary " blotted out'^Eve's
fault, etc. As Dr. Newman, in his answer to the " Eirenicon",
points out, these fathers speak of the Virgin not as a mere
physical instrument, but as an active agent and responsible
cause, co-operating in the privileges of her personal sanctity, as
well as in the privileges of her dignity as Mother of God. In
Justin and Tertullian we have witnesses of the received doctrine
in the East and West. That this doctrine should be found by
them extended over so extensive an area before the year 200,
so similar in all its parts, so complete in its unity, is an evidence
of its apostolical origin. In matter of Tradition, the earlier the
testimony, the more valuable and weighty it is ; and in the whole
range of prae-Nicene literature there is nothing that can be
brought to impinge on the testimony of these fathers, but every-
thing to corroborate it.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315 — 386) says that life came from
the Virgin as death came through Eve. (Cat. xii.) St. Ephrem,
the Syrian, gives testimony to the same effect (Op. Syr. ii. p.
317-8), and also describes (Op. iii. p. 607) Mary as the agency
whereby we are " translated from death to life". St. Epipha-
nius is witness for Palestine and Egyt for the fourth century.
Commenting on the antitheses in the title and office of the first
and the second Eve, this great Father does not hesitate to say :
"Eve became a cause of death to man, ...and Mary a cause
of life" (Haer. 78).
St. Jerome, too, witnesses for the fourth and beginning of the
fifth centuries. There is hardly one of his didactical works
bearing ever so remotely on our subject, that will not be found
replete with such sayings as: " Death by Eve, life by Mary";
" by one woman death, by one woman life", etc. ; so that the
reader could almost fancy himself in the midst of St. Paul's fifth
chapter to the Romans. This testimony of St. Jerome is cosmo-
The Church in Abyssinia.
politan. " I do not know", says Newman, " whose testimony is
more important than St. Jerome's, the friend of Pope Damasus
at Rome, the pupil of St. Gregory Nazianzen at Constantinople,
and of Didymus in Alexandria, a native of Dalmatia, yet an
inhabitant, at different times [of his life, of Gaul, Syria, and
Palestine" (Op. cit.).
St. Peter Chrysologus, one of the five hundred fathers of the
oecumenical Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) says that Mary
" obtained peace for earth, glory for heaven, salvation for the
lost, life for the dead", etc. (Serin. 140) ; and the whole context
explicitly declares her to have a real, causal, ex opere operantis,
co-operation in the restoration of her race to its primordial life.
We have arrived at the age of Augustine. But as this great
doctor has been traduced by Calvin and other writers as being
opposed to the received doctrine of the Church relative to the
second Eve, we defer the review of this father's testimony to a
future article, wherein we purpose likewise to speak of the testi-
mony of the Scholastics, and the difficulties which beset their
path, in treating of this feature of the second Eve. The fathers
we have called up were the bulwarks of Christianity in their
day, and the witnesses to the world of its moral and dogmatic
order ; and their evidence is quite clear on all or any given point
of doctrine which we profess to receive from the very morning
of the One, Catholic, Universal Church. We boast, as Homer
says, to be braver than our fathers ; would that we had the sem-
blance of a boast to their ancient piety and fervent faith.
(!To be continued.)
THE CHURCH IN ABYSSINIA.
WE parted with M. de Jacobis in the north-east frontier of
Abyssinia. Oubie, the King of Tigre, having made peace with
Ras-Aly, had a little time before returned victorious to his
kingdom, and now gladly joined with his subjects in welcoming
back the zealous missionary to the former field of his labours.
The reports of those who had accompanied De Jacobis to Rome,
won for him new claims to the gratitude of the Abyssinians.
They had hitherto revered him as a holy man ; they now more-
over honoured him as an ambassador of their own monarch,
and as the friend of the Sovereign Pontiff, whose paternal love
for the Abyssinian Christians was the general theme of their
The Church in Abyssinia.
discourse. * The harvest was indeed ripe, and M. de Jacobis
was not slow in gathering it into Holy Church. Among his
converts was the granddaughter of the former Emperor Tecla-
Ghiorghis, who, though married to a Mussulman prince, now
abjured her errors, and, together with all her slaves, embraced
the Catholic faith.
Still more important for the interests of the mission was the
conversion of Dr. Schimper, a German scholar of great ability,
who was sent to Abyssinia by the Society of Natural History at
Wurzburg, and had resolved to settle permanently in Tigre.
He was very intimate with the king, and soon after his conver-
sion, obtained a grant for the Catholic missionary of a large
territory called Antichio, as a site for a college and a centre for
the Catholic missions in Abyssinia. This was one of the most
fertile districts of Tigre, comprising some villages, and about
4000 inhabitants, and Oubie in his grant enacted that it should
be exempt from all taxes, and even freed from the passage of
troops. De Jacobis regarded this royal gift as a source of many
future blessings for his mission, and in one of his letters he
styles it " a perfect Eden for produce of all kinds which the
mercy of God has awarded to our infant Catholic colony".
Many of the inmates of the Abyssinian monasteries became
also disciples of our missionary, and subsequently laboured with
him devotedly and fervently for the conversion of the natives.
The account given by De Jacobis of these monasteries, so long
unknown to Europe, is full of the deepest interest. Writing to
his old friend, M. Spaccapietra (now Archbishop of Smyrna), he
" There exists in Abyssinia, as I have before mentioned, a
succession of mountains, often eleven or twelve thousand feet
above the level of the sea, the ascent of which is only by a steep,
stony, and narrow path, often mysteriously hidden in the folds
of the ravines which cover their rugged sides. On the summit
of hills like these, the convents are invariably placed, — partly as
sanctuaries in case of danger, but also with the additional advan-
tage of the perfect quiet and absence from worldly turmoil, so
essential to monastic life. I was anxious to visit these monasteries,
which are perched on the frontiers of the country as if to act as
its bulwarks and lighthouses in the midst of the flood of paganism
which threatens to overwhelm it.
" The first I attempted was that of Doma. The * Amba' which
forms its pedestal is a magnificent mountain of white quartz, out
of the shelves of which spring forth the most glorious flowering
shrubs, especially the quelqual, a kind of euphorbia, and a sin-
gular variety, growing in the shape of an enormous chande-
lier.
. The Church in Abyssinia. 173
" This plant is as characteristic of Abyssinia as the palm is of
Egypt, growing every where in the greatest luxuriance.
" The river Najoc washes the base of this mountain, which is
wonderfully fertile ; and from thence a precipitous path led up
to a gigantic rock standing out from the hill like a fortified bas-
tion,— when the track seemed suddenly and unaccountably to lose
itself and disappear. This rock formed the cloture of a convent
of Abyssinian nuns who have the care of a little sanctuary hard
by, which is a favourite place of pilgrimage to the devouter por-
tion of the peasants. The superior came to speak to us from the
other side of the enclosure, which nature certainly has made next
to impregnable, — but said that they were never allowed to ascend
to the hermitage above, to which there was apparently not even
a goat-track".
He then minutely describes his ascent to the upper monastery,
and thus continues :
" I found myself on a plateau of about 2000 feet in width, of
no great depth of soil, but still susceptible of careful cultivation, —
thus giving it the appearance of a garden suspended between
heaven and earth. Olive, juniper, and sycamore trees, over-
hanging the precipice, shaded the little cemetery on the right.
After going over the monastery, I visited the church, built out
of the ruins of a sanctuary destroyed in the fifteenth century by
Gragne, the Attila of Abyssinia. At a glance I saw that the
architect must have been a European, both from the nature of the
plan and from the absence of any Oriental character about the
building. Close to the church are sunk 150 cisterns, arranged
in a rectangular shape, and supposed to have been the work of the
Emperor Caleb in the fifth century. Further on were the grottoes
of the hermits. A young monk took me to the one where the
famous Abouna Tecla-Haimanot spent his life of penitence and
prayer. My age prevented my being able to get into this grotto,
which is almost inaccessible ; but my guide swung himself up into
the cave, and, speedily reappearing, produced an enormous stone
which tradition affirms Tecla put on his head when he passed the
night in prayer.
" Another of the cells presented fewer difficulties, and I scram-
bled in. On the rock, which had been hollowed out to serve as
a bed, was the impression of a man's shoulders and back, sup-
posed to have been miraculously left in the stone.
" At Bizen, which was the next monastery I visited, a confused
mass of granite rocks heaped one upon the other, of colossal size,
add to the savage nature of the hermitage. Exhausted by the
fatigues of the ascent, and by a two days' fast, it was with diffi-
culty that we dragged our limbs to the foot of a great wooden
The Church in Abyssinia.
cross, the only specimen of the kind in Abyssinia, which marks
the approach to the convent. This welcome sign seemed to give
us fresh life ; and after a short halt we crawled on, through a grove
of olive and juniper, to the summit, passing by the usual fine
cisterns, which, unfortunately, were dry, though cut in granite
and carefully lined with cement. Now the poor monks are de-
pendent on rain-water for their supply, which is often stolen from
them by the elephants, who scale their fortress during the night
for that purpose.
" From the summit of this convent all that part of Abyssinia
which was once Christian lay stretched as in a map at one's feet ;
the ruins of fourteen churches, which formerly were dependent
on this great monastery of Bizen, filled one's heart with Sadness
and sorrow. Mahometanism and idolatry have crushed out the
Christianity from this beautiful and fertile district. I could not
but feel the truth of the reflection of M. de Montalembert, that
wherever the monastic orders have kept their faith pure, they
have been the centres of religion and civilisation ; while their de-
moralisation has been invariably followed (as is so lamentably
the case in the East) by a corresponding destruction of all faith
and morale among the people. The evil, in this case, has re-
acted on its authors. Although the hermitage remains, it is
virtually deserted, save by a handful of religious, who are up and
down the country; so that it is only on occasions of great feasts
that they meet for the celebration of the divine office. Thus this,
which was formerly called the ' Holy Mountain', is nearly aban-
doned ; and the people's curse rises up to the heights from whence
truth has ceased to descend.
" But the most interesting of all these convents is that of
Guenda-Guende, which we had reserved for the last of our ex-
cursions.
" On turning to the south-east, by the plain of Agamie, you
come suddenlv on the most fearful-looking mountain to be seen,
I should think, on earth. I scarcely know how to describe it,
except by trying to make you imagine a terrific explosion of
molten metal, which, thrown up in a vertical jet of eight or nine
thousand feet in height, pours down its liquid streams of lava
right and left, which there harden and become of the colour of
rusty iron. No dew from heaven or stream from earth irrigates
its barren and pitiless sides, which are bereft of all vegetation,
and stand out naked and brazen in the glare of the burning tro-
pical sun. In a crevice, split by some convulsion of nature out
of the flank of this terrible mountain, popular tradition affirms
that a famous dragon lives, known by the nnmo of On.hella.
Until the monks, by prayer, had exorcised this monster, and forced
him to remain in his den, young gnls were constantly offered up
The Church in Abyssinia. 175
by the superstitious peasantry to appease liis wrath. Absurd as
these legends are, they are universally believed in Abyssinia ;
and certainly the nature of the place, and the volcanic crater on
which the monastery is built, might give rise to many such de-
lusions. The great depth of the crater, the sulphureous air you
breathe, and the venomous reptiles which swarm in the caves,
entitle it to its appellation, the ' Lake of Dragons'.
41 Mamer Walda Ghiorghis, the present abbot of this monas-
tery, is a man of the finest instincts, and far better educated than
the monks in Abyssinia generally are. The moment he heard
of our arrival, he came out in his abbot's dress, with his com-
munity, to welcome us into his monastery. He covered the
floor of his church with rich carpets, and received us with great
ceremony, seated on a curule chair called a ' Wambar' ; he is one
of the few Abyssinians to whom this privilege is awarded, and
etiquette exacts that he shall not leave it even in the presence
of the king. To the right of the hall of audience, where we had
been received, repose the ashes of King Sabagadis and his chil-
dren. This wonderful man did not live to fulfil all that was
foreseen at the beginning of his reign ; and at the very moment
when Balbi wrote that ' his genius would raise Abyssinia to the
position of a great power', Sabagadis, kneeling with the cross in
his hand, was receiving his death- wound from the spear of a
Gallas enemy. The most beautiful ornaments in the church of
Guenda-Guende are the gifts of this wise and generous prince.
" The next day, we were introduced to the library of the
monastery, where there is the largest known collection of Abys-
sinian works. I discovered that this treasure-house contained
all the books in the Gheez dialect which have ever been written.
There is also a magnificent copy of the theological work, so cele-
brated in Abyssinia under the name of flaimanouta Abau, and
which bears a most curious witness to the truth of the Catholic
and Roman Church on the very points which modern heretics
deny. There is, likewise, a very important passage on the* Holy
Ghost ' proceeding from the Father and the Son' ; but at the word
Wawald (Filioque), some modern hand has scratched out the
text, without, however, having been able altogether to efface the
original letters. But the happiest result of our visit was the con-
version of the abbot Mamer VV^alda Ghiorghis himself and six of
his monks, who, long ago convinced of the errors which had
crept into the Abyssinian belief, only waited for an opportunity
to abjure them, and declare themselves one with us. To silence
the calumnies of our enemies, Ghiorghis did not hesitate to say
to them * To combat the Catholics with any hopes of success,
you must begin by leading the Christian lives they do'. The
good abbot wished to be received at once, and only reasons of
176 The Church in Abyssinia.
5-udence induced me to postpone the event for a few months,
is holy and ascetic life had caused him to be held in universal
esteem by the Abyssinians — even apart from the perpetual fast
which his position exacted. To explain this^ I should mention
that abstinence from flesh meat and strong drinks forms part of
the rule of these monks ; but in the universal laxity which has
crept into their order, they have come to the conclusion that such
a regimen is impossible to flesh and blood, and so have contrived
a novel and almost comical way of evading it. ^ In choosing a
superior, they make him take an oath that he will observe^to the
letter the severe penitential rule and the rigorous fast enjoined
by their order, on behalf of the rest of the community. So that,
in fact, the abbot pays in his own person the debt due from all !
The moment he has accepted these hard conditions, he is watched
by one and all with never-ceasing vigilance, and the smallest in-
fraction of the rule is visited by instant deposition from his high
office.
" Before closing this letter, I will say one word of the public
education of Abyssinia, which is exclusively confined to these
convents, and which is very important, as bearing on the future
state of this country.
" What in Europe we call school, or college, or university, is
comprised here in the universal denomination of Debra. No
Debra can be governed by a lay body — each must be attached
to a church and convent; therefore, when you hear of Debra
Damo, Debra Metemek, and the like, it signifies the college and
convent of St. John, or whichever saint may be its patron. The
professors are priests, and generally monks ; though sometimes
men called Defteras^ or masters-laureate, are selected by the
emperor for special branches of instruction. To these colleges
princes and people equally come and share in the public instruc-
tion : it is entirely gratuitous, and the maintenance of the profes-
sors rests with the Debra. The miserable pittance awarded to
them is four amulie a year (the amulie being equivalent to half a
dollar), and twenty -four measures of wheat, of fifty pounds'
weight.
" You can imagine, therefore, the misery in which these poor
doctors and professors live ; but what is still more incredible is
the amount of privations to which a young man will submit so
as to reach the higher grades of science. Without speaking of
the personal service, often of the most menial characrer, ren-
dered by the pupil to his master — a service, however, which
their filial affection for their tutors seems to make sweet and easy
to them — the student leaves his home and family, carrying on
his back the sack of pease or meal which is to be his whole sub-
sistence duiing his college term; and, when that is exhausted,
The Church in Abyssinia. 177
tig only resource is to beg in order to live ; add to this, that thq
length of the course of study exacted is perfectly despairing.
The course embraces seven years consecrated to learning the
Ziema, or chaunt of the Church ; nine years for the Suasuo, or
grammar and dictionary of the Gheez language ; four for the
Kentt, or poetry ; and ten for the Qu6dusan-mezahft, or sacred
books of the Old and New Testaments. Civil and canonical
law, astronomy, and history are also included in the course of
instruction given, but few students have the courage to embark
in them. After all, this labour results in little science save one,
and that is in their knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures".
The fame of M. De Jacobis did not long remain confined
within the limits of Tigre, and petitions soon came to him from
the Gallas and other tribes to the south and west, praying him
to go and preach to them the saving doctrines of eternal life.
His first excursion was to the Wareb river and the territory of
Mensa. He was accompanied by the lay-brother Abatini, and
two native priests, whom he had reconciled to Holy Church.
They had only proceeded a short way, when they were sur-
rounded by some hostile tribe in the valley of Sarawe, and
carried off to a filthy dungeon near the town of Gouda-Falasie to
await the final sentence of the heads of the tribe. Here, how-
ever, help came to them from an unexpected quarter. We shall
allow the missionary himself to detail the circumstances of his
release, and the chief incidents of his subsequent journey:
" When I first arrived in Abyssinia, I had traversed part of
this country, and the inhabitants of a little town called Gouda-
Falasie had shown me kindness, and guided me through a defile
in the mountains to the residence of another tribe, formerly Chris-
tians, and named Candida. The whole of the desert of Sennaar
seemed there as if stretched at our feet ; while, at the conflux of
two streams, the little island of Meroe remains, famous in ancient
times as the cradle of Egyptian civilisation.
" The boa-constrictor abounds in this district. His prey is the
antelope, or agazen, which he watches for at the river-banks, his
tail curled round a tree, — the rest of his long body being undis-
tinguishable from the colour of the earth, to which it assimilates ;
and then fascinating his victim with his eyes, which are of won-
derful beauty, in a moment its whole body is engulphed in the
monster's jaws. He takes eight days to digest a feast of this sort,
when he vomits the bones of his prey ; and at that time the
natives are sometimes able to compass his destruction. But to
return to my story.
" Whilst passing through this district, we came on the ruins
of an old abbey, and the people said to me ; ' Why not come and
YOl. V. 12
178 The Church in Afyssinia.
settle yourself here among us, and rebuild this convent? we will
gladly make over to you the stream and the surrounding terri-
tory, and you could do what you pleased with it'. It was a
tempting offer; but how accept it? Wishing to temporise, I
replied: ' But why don't you begin by rebuilding your church,
which was burnt by the enemies of Sabagadis? I will gladly
help you to begin it, provided you are not subjects of the Abouna
Salama'. * Help us to rebuild our church', they exclaimed with
joy, * and we will have no other Abouna than the one you shall
Bet over us'. This was no sooner said than done. We made
plans, and with difficulty scraped together a few dollars ; every
man put his shoulder to the wheel ; and in a few months a very
decent church was completed, and dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin. All this was known in the neighbourhood ; and as the
dungeon into which we had been thrust was only a few miles
fromGouda-Falasie', the news of our captivity rapidly spread,
and a detachment of young men flew to our rescue. In the mean
time, we had the consolation of giving some little instruction to
the children who crowded round our prison, so that we almost
forgot our chains; and having been able to effect the cure of two
or three sick people — one especially, in an almost miraculous
manner — the current of public opinion began to turn in our
favour.
" Then arrived the youth of Gouda-Falasie*, and they made
the day of our deliverance one of real triumph. Men, women,
and children threw themselves at our feet, imploring the blessing
of ' the founders of the church of Mary', as they called us ; nor
could they sufficiently express their sorrow for the bad treatment
to which we had been exposed. From this place, where God
had so marvellously protected us, we came to the village of Ad-
Counci in the Amazon, and to the river Mareb, one of the sup-
posed smaller sources of the Nile.
'* From thence we arrived at the village of Wachi, which was
to be a kind of head-quarters for our mission, and took posses-
sion of a long, low, smoky house which had been prepared for
us, but which was redolent with the smell of goats, besides other
nuisances. However, by dint of cleaning and purifying the
rooms with the sweet-scented jumper, we managed to divide the
space, and turn it into a little college, where community-life could
be more or less maintained. I spent every spare moment in
translating the large Catechism into Gheez, and also the Psalms,
for the fiejteras, who crowded round us for instruction. A
knowledge of the language used in the sacred books of Abyssinia
is absolutely essential to the Ethiopian missionary, from the pas-
sion of the people for theological discussions, and the contro-
versies which are always the subjects of conversation.
The Church in Abyssinia. 170
" The peasantry of this and the surrounding villages, were in
great distress at the time of our arrival, owing to the raids which
had been made amongst them by the defeated troops of Oubie*,
who had ravaged their homes, and carried fire and sword into
this hitherto peaceful district.
" But we were not destined to remain long in our provisional
college of Wachi. The tribe of Mensa claimed our promised
visit; so, in spite of the gloomy prognostications of our new con-
verts, and discouraging accounts of the almost impassable nature
of the roads, and the difficulty of finding water, we left the hill-
country, and proceeded on our route towards the plain.
" I will say nothing of our equipment and personal appearance.
A good coat in this country exposes a man to almost certain
robbery, if not death. Our only chance was to go utterly un-
provided with any thing. Generally a mule or horse carried the
cow's skin which served as the missionary's bed, with the sack
of flour and the bottle of water which formed his commissariat.
But here these things were luxuries not to be thought of. With
bare feet and head, a coarse bit of canvas on our shoulders, and
a walking-stick with an iron point, we started on our expedition.
" At midnight we found ourselves descending into the plain
of Mensa, which lay stretched 6000 feet below our feet. Our
way led by frightful precipices, which the uncertain light of the
moon rendered more alarming. The soil was painfully slippery,
and forced us to look almost all the time at our feet ; but here and
there we came on magnificent ravines of wild and savage beauty
which I have never seen equalled; while, at other times, we
looked down on valleys so desolate that they seemed as if stricken
by a curse.
" When we neared the village, our suite took a martial atti-
tude, winding their one garment round their loins ; and, with
a buckler of elephant's hide and a lance at rest, they proceeded,
with quick and dignified steps, to the hut of Cantiba, the chief
man of the tribe. Mensa was the abode of four thousand souls,
most of whom were shepherds ; rough, wattled, circular cottages,
surrounded by palisades of wood to keep out the wild beasts, and
with strange, grotesque mausoleums in the centre, made up the
village. Lowering spear and buckler, Achillas, the head of
our little escort, entered Cantiba's dwelling. This man was a
descendant of the royal and sacred family from whom emanated
the whole Abyssinian race ; but nothing remains to them now
save the hereditary title. He is small, but well proportioned,
with a complexion like that of an Italian: he is dignified in
manner, and his long white hair, well anointed with cow's grease,
fell on his neck and shoulders and added to his venerable
appearance.
1*1
180 The Church in Alyssinia.
" Although our arrival was unexpected ^at that time^ he
received me°with great courtesy; but, after a little conversation,
said, * My affairs will compel me very soon to leave the country,
and after I am gone there would be no safety for you ; so that
you had better return to Wachi before my departure*. This
was a civil but decided way of getting rid of us; ^however, I
could not bear the idea of having come so far in vain, and so I
went in and out among the people to see if I could not produce
some religious fmpresiion. Several of the women knelt to beg
my blessing, and the children, as usual, crowded round me.
Encouraged by their questions, I opened my little store of
needles and pins and medals, and gave them some. Then I
entered into conversation with the elder ones, and asked them if
they had ever heard of Jesus. * No', they replied; ^wejuever
heard His name before'. Then I began to tell them His history,
and they became at once engrossed by it, and when I stopped
exclaimed, * But why must you go ?' — an expression uttered by
a man of venerable aspect who had been listening too, and who
I found was the brother of Cantiba. I replied to him, ' Because
your brother wishes it'. He answered, ' I am married, and to a
Mahometan, but we want to become Catholics and to be baptized
at once'. I began his instruction, and in the middle of it Cantiba
came in. * I have just held a council', he said, ' with the elders
of our tribe, and we bid you welcome: we want to be taught by
you, and to be baptized as soon as harvest is over ; the doura is
now ripe. If you cannot stay with us now, we will come and
fetch you a little later, for we want to become Christians'.
Here was indeed a harvest ready to our hand, for which to thank
God and take courage.
" I found the people living in great misery : the most beauti-
ful sites in the place are occupied by the tombs, which, with their
cylindrical form and the abundance of quartz in the stone from
which they aie constructed, have a very beautiful effect when
seen from a distance. Their funerals are conducted with great
pomp : dressed in black and with dust on their heads, the hired
mourners or * weeping women' execute a dance round the bier,
increasing in velocity like that of the dancing dervishes, until
they drop from sheer exhaustion and fall into the arms of the
* women of consolation', as they are called, who receive them.
They have a curious custom relating to robbery, reminding one
of the laws of the Spartans. When a theft (say of cattle) is
committed, the suspected person is brought before the ancients ;
if the theft be clearly proved, he is made to refund the number
of cows stolen, but receives a dollar for each from the proprietor
to make him more careful in future.
" From Mens$ we went to the convent of Pebra Bizen.
TJie Church in Abyssinia. 181
Country through which we passed was so beautiful, that I could
not resist stopping to sketch it. Do not be surprised ; in Abys-
sinia, the missionary learns to do every thing, — to be mason,
carpenter, and architect one moment — butcher, baker, and cook,
the next. We won't say much of the excellence of the work,
but the best maker upon earth is necessity. From Debra Bizen
we came down into the desert of Samahar, and to the village of
Emkoullou. Our steps pressed the soil which, two centuries be-
fore, had been watered by the blood of the confessors whom the
impious Fasilidas had given up to the barbarity of the Turks.
Two nights after, by a beautiful moonlight, in crossing the desert
we came on a band of brigands. To attempt to escape was im-
possible— the ' Bogos' as they are called, brandished their long
lances, and surrounded us on all sides. I could do nothing but
simply commend our little party to God's mercy, and prepare for
death. Suddenly Achillas's name was mentioned. He was
known to the band, who instantly lowered their spears, and after
a few words exclaimed, * Fear nothing, we are friends'. At Em-
koullou we baptised several men of the * Gallas' tribe, transacted
the affairs of our new mission, and then went on to the province of
Agamie, where, with the permission of the prince, Oubie, we
had purchased a site for a church and presbytery — one of the
most beautiful in the whole country. The air there is pure and
delicious ; a limpid stream rushes down the glen, which is well
wooded and gives a grateful shade. After a few months' labour
shared in by the whole community, our little mission-house and
chapel were completed and ready for the reception of twenty-
four scholars. We have built another church on part of the
property of the celebrated abbey of Guenda-Guende, whose abbot
earnestly desires to be reconciled to the Church, as well as his
whole community, of whom six have already been received.
Here I met my dear old friend M. Montuori, on his way from
Khartoun — where he had founded the college — to Gondar,
where he was about to purchase a site for the new mission in that
town. On the road from Sennaar to Gondar he came on a wood
called the Wood of Lions. Bones scattered here and there, and
one or two bodies partially devoured, made the party feel that
it was rightly named. All of a sudden they heard the low and
terrible roar of the king of beasts. The mule on which M.
Montuori was mounted, mad with fright, turned right round,
and faced the enemy. Not being able to pull him in, he had no
alternative but to throw himself off, falling on his head with such
violence that he was left for dead. M. Blondel, consul-general
of the King of the Belgians, nursed him with such care that he
recovered — the mule alone falling a victim to the foe. Such are
some of the perils of the missionary's life".
182 The Church in Abyssinia.
The next tribe visited by M. De Jacobis was the Irot>s,&
pastoral people, and claiming for themselves the palm of anti-
quity among all the tribes of Abyssinia. A young man named
Tecla, belonging to this tribe, had already joined the mission in
Tigre, and under his guidance, our missionary started for the
town of Alitiena where the ancients of the tribe were at this
time assembled. He then laid before the Irob chiefs the doc-
trines of faith, and fervently exhorted them to renounce their
schism, and to return to the bosom of Christ-^ To his inexpres-
sible consolation, it was soon announced to him by the president
of the assembly that they had resolved to profess the Catholic
faith, and that this should henceforth be the religion of their
tribe. M. De Jacobis resolved therefore to remain for some
time in the Irob territory, and his letters present many interest-
ing details connected with this simple and devoted people :
" In a few days, M. Biancheri and I are going to start two
rough tents made of sail-cloth, like the native ones. Until now,
we have crept into the little dens or caverns which the shepherds
use while guarding their flocks, or else slept in the wood huts
of the Irobs, which are made of boughs of juniper and sycamore
for the dwellings of the elders of the tribe alone are constructed
of mud and stone, with a mortar of cow's dung. But, however
miserable the Irob habitations may be, there is no doubt about
the cordiali ty of your reception ; their welcome goes straight to
one's heart. The best corner of the hut, the cleanest cow-skin,
is instantly placed at your disposal. It is thus, cross-legged,
that the missionary sits and catechises his new converts ; not
without, I must own, sundry contortions in his efforts to catch
the vermin which swarm round him and about him, and from
which it is impossible to escape. The little instruction generally
ends with prayer and the recitation of the Rosary. Then we
have supper; which, in honour of the missionary, becomes a so-
lemn feast. First, they bring the fattest goat and present it. I
go through the form of accepting it ; but then, knowing the po-
verty of these poor people, I intercede for its life, and suggest
that it should be reserved for a more important occasion. Then
they produce the gonfo, which is a kind of soup of oat-flour
swimming in butter. Oat-cake is looked upon as a great delicacy
by the Irobs, for they never taste wheat. This gonfo is served
in a great bowl of sycamore wood, and is the only substitute for
meat. Then the women retire, for it is not the custom for their
sex to eat with their masters. The men, sitting in a half-circle,
set to work and devour this soup, having no spoon but their
hands, which they; thrust into the butter at every mouthful.
This is the only thing which never fails ; and when one flatters
oneself that one may eat the oat-cake alone, the master of the
the Church in Abyssinia* 183
house instantly pours in more butter from a little keg which he
holds in his hand. As king of the feast, I ought to set the ex-
ample on these occasions ; but I confess being unable to swallow
it, and my guests save me the trouble by finishing it in a few
moments. Then follows the lahano-han, a sorbet very much liked
by the Irobs, who drink it in what they call a dagohda, a cup
made of fine plaited straw, manufactured by the women. The
plaiting of these vessels is so close and even, that not a drop
escapes. These cups are of a cylindrical shape, and, with smoke
and dirt, are of the colour of ebony. When filled, the^ natives
take a burning brand from the hearth and plunge it into the
liquid, stirring it about till the milk rises in a scum to the top,
when it is handed round to the company. Then the conversa-
tion begins to get animated, and goes on increasing in noise and
vigour till the end of the feast. The supper over, and evening
prayers said, the missionary lies down to sleep on his cow's skin,
which he does as well as the noise and the vermin will allow him.
The natives themselves sleep on the bare ground. As to their
dress, they formerly wore the white linen common to the Indians,
and which they called berghella; but since the communications
with the sea-shore have been interrupted, they content themselves
with a kind of rough cloth made in Abyssinia, which they pay
for in kind ; that is, with the butter and honey which abound in
their country.
" Some patience is required to bear with the minute exami-
nation of every thing belonging to you which is the consequence
of these friendly and hospitable receptions. Nothing escapes
their notice or their touch in your room or about your person ;
and having at last satisfied their curiosity, they lie down by your
side and whistle in your ear the different tunes with which they
lead their cattle to pasture or home again to milk ; sometimes in-
terrupting their whistling to break out into a song in praise of a
favourite bullock or heifer, the names of these animals being care-
fully introduced. The music ended, the Irob suddenly starts up
and goes out without ever wishing you good-bye. But trying as
these proceedings may be, there is a compensation for the little
exercise of patience and temper in the docility with which the
people will follow your instructions, and the good- will they show
on every occasion. The missionary needs far less than this to
induce him to overlook any amount of apparent indiscretion.
" News is conveyed among the the Irobs in an original but
efficient manner. Carrier-pigeons, beacon-fires, and the like, are
the usual resources of a primitive people. But here they have
another and perhaps more satisfactory method. By a law dating
from the earliest times, they claim the right to stop any passing
traveller on the road, and to question him as to the current news
184 The Church in Abyssinia.
of the day or of the district through which he had passed ; and
the said traveller is bound to satisfy their curiosity to the full.
In the same way, the questioner is compelled to reply to any
inquiries that may be made by the passer-by, and to give him all
the local gossip of the place. This itinerant journalism, though
inconvenient to a stranger, is very valuable to the people of the
country ; and I am bound to say, that in fidelity and exactness it
greatly surpasses the ordinary European newspapers, just as the
image reproduced on the looking-glass is more faithful than any
painted picture.
" Perhaps I shall weary you by my long descriptions of these
tribes ; but it is difficult to make you understand otherwise the
nature of our daily life. You may, perhaps, exclaim, that a mis-
sionary's existence among them has few compensations ; but I
assure you it is far otherwise. Not to speak of the spiritual joy
of seeing so many souls brought to the knowledge of our Lord,
and the consolations which God bestows on these who devote
themselves to an Apostolic life (of which I feel myself utterly un-
worthy), there are many material pleasures ; as, for instance, in
the excessive beauty of the scenery and the flowers, the luxury
of fresh milk when one is thirsty, and even the thick soups which
one finds so delicious when fainting with hunger.
" But the good dispositions of the people, their gratitude and
personal affection, are very cheering to the missionary's heart.
Is it not edifying to see a little goatherd of seven or eight years
old, to whom you have taken some pains to explain the catechism,
holding a small class of children of his own age on the mountain-
side, of his own accord, and then presiding, with wonderful re-
collection and piety, at the evening devotions of his family ? or to
see old men die in the holiest and best dispositions ? or to receive
entreaties from young men to be prepared for holy orders ? I
was very much touched one day at hearing a boy, when asked
1 what he wished for most on earth', reply, ' I wish that our dear
father, whom God has sent us, may live as long as Abie (the
Abyssinian Mathuselah), so that at the hour of my death, I may
have the joy of receiving the last Sacraments from him, as my
elder brother did, who died in his arms'.
" They are positively greedy for religious instruction ; from the
little child of three years old, who can scarcely speak, to the old
grandmother on whose knee he is sitting. It has moved me to
tears to hear the old shepherds and the young soldiers on the hill
side reciting together the Rosary or the Litanies, the lowing of
the cattle mingling with their voices, as if * every thing that had
breath' were * praising God'.
" Such are the joys of our life, dear and reverend brother. I
thank God that, in spite of my forty-six years, I still have strength
Ancient Hymn to St. Mac Car then. 185
to climb these mountain-sides, to be cheered by the sight of such
faith, and to preach our holy religion. The great difficulty we
have to contend with here is in the purchase of land for churches
and missions. Every acre belongs, not to this or that individual,
but to the district, or to the whole province. Therefore, to get
so large a number of people to agree as to the terms is next to
impossible. However, God has turned the hearts of many to-
wards us. Grants of lands have been freely made, on many un-
expected occasions, for these purposes ; so that we must hope for
a similar extension of our work throughout the country".
ANCIENT HYMN TO SAINT MAC CARTHEN,
BISHOP AND PATRON OF CLOGHER.
THE following Hymn in honour of St. MacCarthen was
recently discovered in an old MS. of the Diocesan Library of
Cashel, and was inserted in the Cashel Gazette, December 19th,
1868. It is probably the hymn which, as we learn from Ware,
was composed by Patrick Culin, Bishop of Clogher, who died
in 1534. " Our prelate (writes Ware) was accounted a person
of considerable knowledge, both in antiquities and poetry, and
was the author of a hymn of ten stanzas in metre, in praise of
St. MacCarthen, first Bishop of Clogher, which is extant in
manuscript among the collections of the late Archbishop King"
(Ware's Bishops, page 187). It is not difficult to explain how
this hymn, with other monuments of the see of Clogher, found
its way to the archives of Cashel. In Queen Elizabeth's reign,
Miler Magrath, for a short time Bishop of Clogher, preferred
the favours of the crown to the blessings of Divine faith, and,
renouncing the faith of his fathers, received as his reward from
his royal patron the see of Cashel. We hope that further
researches in the Cashel library will bring to light the ancient
Registry of Clogher, which was also extant in Ware's time, and
other MSS., to illustrate the history of that see which was
founded by St. Patrick himself, and for centuries numbered
among its sainted bishops some of the brightest names that are
registered in our annals.
186 Ancient Hymn to St. Mac Car then*
HYMNUS IN LAUDEM ST. UAKARTINI,
Episcopi Clocherensis etfundatoris Monasterii Clocherentis, qui
obiit 9 Calend. Aprilis An. 506.
Festum dignum celebrantes
Sanctum virum venerantes
Makartinum et laudantes
Exaudi nos Trinitas.
Est confessor fide plane
Virgo fertur castitate
Martyr fatur sponte fame
Apostolus prsedicans.
Qui peccati nescit fraudem
Et praelati vita tandem
Trinitati tulit laudem
In multis miraculis.
Sordes mentis formidabat
Stultas gentes castigabat
Quod exemplis solidabat
Per virtutis opera.
Laborantes in dolore
Supplicantes cum amore
Sed laetantes sunt favore
Precibus que praesulis.
Caecos surdos salutavit
Et iinmundos lepra lavit
Moribundos suscitavit
Makartinus Pontifex.
Infirmantes visitabat
Expirantes suscitabat
Plures gentes baptizabat
Cum Sancto Patricio.
Sancto Deo quasi vivit
Jeeu Christo obedivit
Mundo victo post exivit
Ad aeternam gloriam.
Hie in terris fuit fortis
Nunc in coelis bonae sortis
Nos a poena dirae mortis
Makartinus liberat.
ttubrical Questions. 18 1
Deus Trinus qui est unus
Quique nobis praestat munus
Quo sit clerus hie securus
In perenni gloria. Amen.
RUBRICAL QUESTIONS.
1. " WHEN a priest goes on an ordinary sick-call, should he
commence at the De Visitatione et Cura Infirmorum of the
Ritual, or after hearing the sick person's confession begin at the
Ritus Communicandi ad Infirmum, omitting the other? Both
practices are pursued by different priests in this district. Please
say which is right. — W. M'D."
The title De Visitatione et Cura Infirmum, in our small
ordo or compendium, is taken, with a few slight additions, from
the Roman Ritual (same title). We do not think that this title
refers merely to what are commonly called " sick-calls" in this
country: it appears rather to be an exhortation and instruction
to those having care of souls, as to the general solicitude and care
they should have of the sick. The details, so far as certain
forms of prayer and specific rites are described, appear to con-
stitute one of the Sacramentaria of the Church rather than to
have any proximate relation to the administration of a sacra-
ment, and are left in this respect very much to the discretion or
judgment of the parish priest. I say in this respect, for it is
obvious that the portion of the Instructions Nos. 1 to 17 inclu-
sive, are nothing more or less than the es&ential or positive duty
of the parish priest, which, no doubt, is substantially observed in
this country according to the circumstances, ex. gr. the length of
the illness, the need in which the sick person stands of instruc-
tion, consolation, or exhortation, etc. The rite or form is, on
the other hand, not generally used. We know, however, of
some venerable priests who have, occasionally at least, observed
it in all its details. So much being premised, if our correspon-
dent means to ask, " Whether a priest attending a sick-call,
where the last Sacraments are to be administered, is to commence
with the observances and prayers under the heading De V-isitat.
et Cura Infirmorum in our Compendium or Ordo?" we reply
plainly in the negative. If he wishes to refer to other circum-
stances, i.e., " when the sacraments are not to be administered",
not knowing just now what authority there is for the minor, but
188 Rubrical Questions.
in themselves very appropriate additions to the Ritual which
appear in our Ordo, our reply would be, Servetur Dispositio
Ritualis Romani (hoc titulo). In addition, however, to the
sense in which we have previously discussed the proposed ques-
tion, it may be perhaps understood as seeking to elicit opinion
on the relative merits of two practices — one, in accordance with
which the three Sacraments of Penance, the^Hply Viaticum, and
Extreme Unction, together with the Benediction in art. mortis,
are conferred at one visit ; which, however, need not necessarily
be supposed to be the first and only one : the other, according to
which distinct visits are paid for each of the above occasions.
The first of these practices — of course not speaking of cases of
urgency — is very objectionable, and when conjoined with the
abuse of bearing the Blessed Sacrament to the sick, except in
cases where the priest prudently believes it necessary for the
purpose of administering the Holy Communion or Viaticum, is
still more reprehensible. Extreme Unction and Viaticum should
also, except in cases of urgency either affecting the sick person
or the priest, who in an extensive parish may not easily return
from a great distance with the holy oils, be administered at
distinct visits. As to the Benedictio in artic. mortis, it should be
observed that, when administered immediately after either of
the foregoing sacraments, it is necessary, according to recent
declarations of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, that the
Confiteor, etc., should be repeated.
2. Another correspondent asks us : " Can a curate who says
two Masses on Sunday accept an honorarium for either Mass?"
The answer should be manifest from what we laid down in a
late number. ^ The curate, who is not obliged ex-offido to offer
up Mass for his flock, may accept an honorarium for the first
Mass. In the poorer districts he may, by permission of his
bishop, accept it also for the second Mass. As this question of
the honorarium for the second Mass has given risen to some
controversy, we will publish, in the next number, the circular
of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda on this subject.
3. " At Low Mass on Sundays, may four candles be lighted?"
The use of four candles is allowed ratione festi.
180
DOCUMENT.
i.
Letter of our Holy Father Pius the Ninth to the Bishop of
Montpellier on some Modern Systems of Education.
A SYSTEM of high- schools for ladies having been established
in France some short time ago, the Bishop of Montpellier con-
sulted His Holiness as to the course he should pursue in regard
to such schools. The reply of His Holiness sets forth the many
dangers involved in such a system, and shows that it is nothing
more than a new phase of the infidel education with which Con-
tinental Freemasons seek to destroy every germ of faith and
feeling in Catholic youth. The decision of our Holy Father is
of importance for ourselves at the present moment, as it seems
that efforts are being made, not only by Freemasons, but also
by many bearing the highest titles in the Established Church, to
introduce a similar educational institution into Ireland, and to
attract Catholic ladies to its schools :
" Venerabili Fratri Francisco, Episcopo Montispessulani.
" PIUS PAPA IX.
" Venerabilis Frater, salutem et apostolicam benedictionem.
" Gratulamur tibi, Venerabilis Frater, quod adversus novas
insidias rectae puellarum education! structas vocem extuleris, et
procacitatem fregeris, qua nuper, institutio, cujus perniciem lucu-
lenter graviterque demonstraverant Venerabiles Fratres tui, non
modo cujusvis suspicionis exspers audacter renuntiata est, sed
utilissima et commendanda, turn quod id testetur prudens do-
cendi ratio per praeteritos menses adhibita a praeceptoribus, turn
quod rei patrocinium et regimen a Principe Foemina piissima
susceptum omne plane discrimen ab ipsa amoliri videatur. Verum
haec nihil omnino demunt de vitio institutionis, quae pro ido-
neis probisque matribus-familias societati parat foeminas manca
et inani scientia tumentes ; nihil de defectu catholici spiritus,
quo dumtaxat mens et affectus rite informari possunt, quique in
tota institutione desideratur ; nihil de malitia, qua religiosa pos-
thabetur educatio, ne cujuslibet erroris conditio deterior esse
existimetur, et ut omnibus par deferatur honor ; nihil denique de
periculis, quibus muliebris pudor in publicum productus obji-
citur^ Ad haec vero nemo non videt, prudentiam illorum qui,
uti asseritur, praeceptiones suas intra debitae severitatis et mo-
destiae fines paulisper contmuerunt? fieri nec^uire va<Jem pruden-
190 Correspondence.
tiae aliorum, nee fortasse ipsorummet in diuturniore muneris sui
exercitio, et in diversis auctorum scriptis scientiaeque in-
ventis exponendis. Moderatrix vero et patrona, quantum-
vis pia, sollicita, sagax, non ubique praeesse posterit, nee
omnia singillatim inspicere; multoque minus emendare vale-
bit intrinseca institutionis et methodi vitia. Dolendum sane
est, iis omnibus machinationibus, quae hactenus adhibitae
fuerunt ad corrumpendos adolescentium animos, accedere nunc
eas, quae pubertatem alterius sexus contaminent. Obsta pro
viribus, Venerabilis Frater, tanto religionis, animarum et patriae
detrimento ; novosqve animos inde sume, quod non modo tecum
habeas Venerabiles omnes Fratres tuos, piosque universos, sed et
quotquot integritatem morum, morales muliebris sexus virtutes,
veramque familiae utilitatem sartas tectas servari desiderant.
Faustum Nos episcopali sollicitudini tuae exitum ominamur;
ej usque auspicem et praecipuae nostrae benevolentiae pignus
Apostolicam Benedictionem tibi tuaeque Dioecesi universae
peramanter impertimus.
" Datum Romae apud S. Petrum, die 25 Novembris, 1868,
Pontificatus Nostri Anno XXIII.
"PIUS PAPA IX.".
CORRESPONDENCE.
i.
THE ASSOCIATION OF PRAYER FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE
INTEMPERATE.
To the Editors of the Record.
Armagh, December 20th. 1868.
" GENTLEMEN,
The founders and members of the association feel deeply
grateful for the article contained in your number for December,
and you will no doubt deem it your best reward to find that, in
consequence, applications for tickets, etc., have been made from
at least six counties in Ireland, in all of which there is good
hope that the association will spread; and, thanks to the Record,
the thousands of members it already numbered in sixty-eight,
may be hundreds of thousands in sixty-nine. Several appli-
cants, however, are in error about the work so far as to call it a
Temperance" Association: would you at some future dav aid
faring up this 9119 little point— a very important one for the
Correspondence. 191
end in view. The association is one of PRAYER, not of Tem-
perance, and founded on confidence in the power of prayer ;
founded too with a view to get all to pray — the strong for the
weak, and the weak for themselves. I fear some of your readers
overlooked the concluding sentence last month. Several have
asked for tickets in order to establish a temperance society. This
is a mistake ; ours is a different work totally, and I am sure a few
words from you will clear up all doubts and misunderstandings.
The good who will pray, who will aid in saving friends and
strangers, the known and the unknown, must form the bulk of
the association ; but none are more welcome or more desired than
those whose one chance, for time and beyond it, lies in prayer.
44 With the utmost respect and gratitude, we are, Rev. Gentle-
men, your humble servants,
44 The Members of the Association of PRAYER for the
CONVERSION of those addicted to Intemperance".
u.
Institution for Poor Converts.
IT may be useful to some of our readers to know that an " Insti-
tution has been established for poor Catholic convert ladies".
We cannot better make known its purport and advantages than
by inserting its circular, which has just come to hand:
44 The special object of this religious work, directed by the
Nuns of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, is to aid young
convert ladies, and Catholics persecuted for the faith, who may
be compelled to leave their families and seek an asylum in a
foreign land.
44 To this end the religious are at all times ready to receive
for a certain period, converts who feel the necessity of further
religious instruction, and who are glad to find it under the pro-
tection of a convent home.
44 They offer to give at the same time, to such young persons
as may desire it, and to the children of converts, the advantages
of a liberal education and careful training, which may qualify
them ultimately to undertake the duties of teachers and gover-
nesses, or enable them in some honourable way to provide for
their own maintenance, and thus escape the destitution which
in too many cases follows upon their reception into the true
Church.
44 The ordinary course of education pursued in the convent
comprises English and French in all their branches ; music and
drawing ; plain and ornamental needlework. Foreign languages
are taught by natives. The religious instruction is superintended
by a resident chaplain appointed by the Bishop of Versailles.
. " In order to extend the benefits of this institute as widely as
Correspondence,
possible, tKe expenses of the pension are limited to very mode*
rate charges for board, as also for furnishing the trousseau. These
charges can be regulated by mutual consent, according to the age
and circumstances of each applicant. «
" To all who are thus trained in thejconvent, every aid will
be afforded in procuring them suitable situations in respectable
Catholic families, and in assisting them when out of employ-
ment, or in sickness.
" The call for an institution of this nature has long been lelt,
from the fact that great numbers of these young converts are
exposed to dangerous temptations, perilous alike to their faith
and morals, from their inexperience, want of resources, and
isolation on their arrival in a foreign country, where they are
strangers alike to the customs and language of those around
them.
" The convent is situated in a beautiful and elevated position
called Les Bruyeres, between Sevres and Bellevue, near Paris.
It is distant from Paris fifteen minutes by railroad. Being close
to the capital, and yet in the midst of the most picturesque
country, surrounded by large and beautiful gardens, it offers all
the most important conditions for health, convenience, and an
agreeable residence.
" Patrons or benefactors, willing to contribute to this work by
their means or personal influence, participate as auxiliary mem-
bers, by virtue of a recent grant of His Holiness Pope Pius the
Ninth, in all the indulgences and spiritual favours, as well as in
the masses and prayers offered by the Confraternity of the Im-
maculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, canonically
established in the convent chapel, an affiliation from the Arch-
confraternity of the same name in Rome, which has existed
above two hundred years, and has been largely indulgenced by
the Sovereign Pontiffs Pius the Seventh and Pius the Ninth.
" Patrons and benefactors are entitled to place a child under
fifteen years of age for every yearly subscription of £12. A
donation of £20 entitles the donor to the education and main-
tenance of a young person for three years.
" Patronesses: — Her Grace the Duchess of Norfolk, the Castle,
Arundel ; the Countess of Denbigh, 49 Eaton Square, London ;
the Countess of Biichan, 27 Park Street, London; the Lady
Herries, Evringham Park, York ; the Lady Blanche Noel, Exton
Hall, Oakham ; the Honourable Mrs. Alfred Montgomery, Ifield
Lodge, Crawley, Sussex, and 346 Rue St. Honore, Paris; Miss
Fortescue Turville, 11 Portugal Street, Grosvenor Square, Lon-
don; Mrs. John Young, 47 Mark Lane, London, E.G.
** For full particulars address to La Reverende Mere Supe-
rieure, Convent de I'lminaculee Conception, Sevres, pres Paris j
also to the above-named patronesses".
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
FEBRUARY, 1869,
GEOLOGY AND REVELATION.
NO. IX.
WHAT is the true meaning of the Mosaic Days? This question
brings at once before us the second branch of the inquiry in
which we are engaged ; and it will, therefore, form the subject of
discussion in our present paper. At the outset we have to notice
that a very remarkable diversity of opinion prevailed on this
subject among the early Fathers of the Church. Some modern
writers seem to think that the meaning of this word Day is so
plain and obvious as to leave no room for doubt or controversy ;
that a Day can be nothing else than a period of twenty four
hours, marked by the succession of light and darkness ; and that
in this sense the Mosaic narrative was universally understood
until quite recently, when a new explanation was invented,
to meet the requirements of modern science. All this, how-
ever, is far from true. The meaning of the word Day, in
the first chapter of Genesis, has been, in point of fact,
a subject of controversy from the earliest times. And Saint
Augustine tells us that the question appeared to him so diffi-
cult that he could pronounce no decisive judgment upon it.
" As to these Days", he says, " what kind they were, it is very
difficult, nay, it is impossible to imagine, and much more so to
explain".1
1 " Qui dies cujusmodi sint, aut perdifficile nobis, aut etiam impossibile est
cogitare ; quanto magis dicere". Z>« Civitate Dei, Lib. xi. cap. 6.
Again: "Arduum quidem et difficillimum est vjribus intentionis nostrae, •
voluntatem scriptoris in istis sex diebus mentis vivacitate penetrare". De
Genesi ad Litter am, Lib. iv. cap. 1.
VOL. V, 13
Geology and Revelation.
Nevertheless, this great Doctor, having long pondered over the
subject, and considered it on many sides, does not hesitate to ex-
press his own opinion. And in this opinion he departs very
widely indeed, from the literal and obvious interpretation. He
maintains at great length,1 as we had before occasion to observe,
that God created all things in a single instant of time, according
to the words of Ecclesiasticus, " He who liveth for ever created
all things at once".2 And thus he is led to infer that the Six
Days commemorated by Moses were in reality but one day ; and •
this not such a day as those which are now measured by the
revolution of the sun, for we find three successive days recorded
by Moses before the sun appeared in the Heavens. It was m
fact nothing else than that one single instant of time m which
all things were created together.3
Nor was this opinion peculiar to Saint Augustine. At the
very dawn of the Christian Era it was^ set forth by Philo
the Jew;4 and afterwards it was maintained by Clemen^ of
Alexandria,5 and by Origen.6 The great Saint Athanasius
1 See De Genesi ad Litteram, Lib. iv. capp. xxvi.-xxxv. Lib. v. cap. i. n. 3,
and cap. Hi. n. 6.
2 Ecclesiasticus, xviii. 1.
3 " Ac sic per omnes illos dies unus est dies, non istorum dierum consuetudine,
intelligendus, quos videmus solis circuitu determinari atque numerari ; sed alio
quodam modo, a quo et illi tres dies, qui ante conditionera istorum luminarium
corumemorati sunt, alieni esse non possunt. Is enitn modus non usque ad diem
quartum, ut imle jam istos usitatos cogitaremus, sed usque ad sextum septim-
umque perductus est; ut longe aliter accipiendus sit dies et nox, inter quae duo
divisit Deus, et aliter iste dies et nox, inter quae dixit ut dividant luminaria quae
creavit, cum ait, ' Et dividaut inter diem et noctem'. Tune enim hunc diem
condidit, cum condidit solem, cujus praeseutia eumdemexhibet diem : ille autem
dies primitus conditus jam triduum neregerat cum haec luminaria illius diei
quarta repetitionecreata sunt". De Genesi ad Litteram, Lib. iv. cap. xxvi. " De
quo enim Creatore Scriptura ista narr.tvit, quod sex diebus consummaverit omnia
opera sua, de illo alibi non utique diswnanter scrip turn est, quod creaverit omnia
simul (Eccles. xviii. 1). Ac per hoc et istos die* sex vel septem, vel potins unum
sexies septiesve repetitum simul fecit qui fecit omnia simul. Quid ergo opus erat
sex dies tarn distincte dispositeque narrari ? Quia scilicet ii qui non possunt
videre quod dictum est, 'Cie.ivit omnia simul'; nisi cum eis sermo tardius ince-
dat, ad id quo eos ducit, pcrvenire non possunt''. Ib. cap. xxxiii.
" Turn igitur omnia simul sunt condita. In quo quidem universali opificio
necesse erat servari ordinem". De MunJi Opificio, Edit. Francofurti, p. 14.
This passage may, at first sight, appear somewhat obscure ; but the meaning of
it is made clear enough when we read elsewhere in the same writer: *' Rusti-
canae svnplicitatis est putare, sex diebus, aut utique certo tempore mundum con-
ditum. Ergo cum audis : ' Complevit sexto dh opera', intelligere non
debes de diebus aliquot, sed de senario perfecto numero". De Leqis Allcgor.
Edit. Francofurti, p. 41.
5 Siromatum, Lib. vi. Edit Bened. p. 291; Edit. Migne, Patrum Graec.
Lurs.is Lompletm, vol. 9, p. 370-5. See also Diisertatio de Libris Stromatum
e u A Benedictine, Nicholas le Nourry, Cap. viii. Artie. 1.
Quod autem prima die lucem, secunda tirmamenturn creaverit, tertia aquae
quae sub coelo erant, in suis fuerint collectae receptaculis, atque ita terra
Bonus riatune ndmimstratione suos fructus protulerit; quod quarta creata
lummana et Btellae, quinta vero natatilia, sexta dernum terrestria eC
The Mosaic Days. 195
seems to throw the weight of his authority in the same direction,
when he says, speaking of the Creation, that " no one thing
was made before another, but all things were produced at once
together by the self-same command".1 And after the time of
Saint Augustine this figurative interpretation was defended by
Saint Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons, in the course of the fifth cen-
tury,2 and by Procopius of Gaza in the sixth.3 In the days
of the schools we find it approved by Albertus Magnus,4
and treated respectfully by Saint Thomas;5 and later still,
homo, haec omnia, prout facultas tulit, in nostris in Genesim commentariis
explicavimus. Quin et supra contra eos gui obrio sensu Scrip/warn interpre'
tantes asserunt sex dies ad creationem mundi insumplos fuisse, adduximus hunc
locum : * Iste est liber generations coeli et terrae quando creata sunt, in die
quo fecit Deus coelum et terram'". Contra Celsum, Lib. vi. Edit. Bened. pp
678, 679. Edit. Migne, Pair. Graecor. Cursus Comolettts, vol 11, p. 1390: for
the passage referred to at the close of the extract see p. 1378. The Commentary
upon Genesis of which Origen here speaks no longer exists, but the following
passage has been preserved. " Aliqui jam absurdum existimantes Deum archi-
tect! more non aliter, quarn plurium dierum labore, fabricam valentis absolvere,
intra multos dies mundum perfecisse, uno cuncta momento ac simul extitisse
aiunt, et hinc illud adstruunt; or<linis autem causa, et ut series constet, dierum
et rerum quae in illis factae sunt, numerum dictum putant. Hi probabiliter
sententiam stabiliunt ea auctoritate qua dictum est : ' ipse dixit, et facta sunt ;
ipse mandavit, et creata suut'". S-lecta in Genesim, Edit. Bened. p. 27. Edit.
Migne, Pair. Graec. Cursus Comphtus^vol. 12, p. 98. Again, in his Treatise De
Principiis, Lib. iv., he says: " Qais igitur sanae mentis existirnaveritpriomm et
secundam et tertiam diem, et vesperam,et mane sine sole, luna, et stellis,et earn
quae veluti prima erat, diem sine coelo fuisse?" Edit, Bened. p. 175. Edit.
Migne, vol. 11, p. 378. See also P. Darnells Huetii Origeniana, Lib. ii. cap. ii.
Quaest. 8, § 6. Edit. Migne, vol. 17, p. 979.
1 " Cum ex supra dictis constet, nullam e rebus creatis prius altera factam
esse, sed res omnes factas uno eodemque mandato simul extitisse". Oratio II.
Contra Arianos, n. 63. Edit. Bened. p. 413. New Edition, p. 528. Edit.
Migne, Pair. Graecor. Cursus Completes, p. 275.
2 Or, speaking more strictly, we should say the author of a Commentary
upon Genesis belonging to a very early period of the Church, ascribed by some
to Saint Eucherius, and usually published with his works. This author says,
no doubt, that God first, in the beginning, created the substance of all things,
and afterwards developed the various forms on successive days (Gen. ii. 4): but
then he tells us expressly that the substance did not precede the forms by any
priority of time, but only by priority of origin. (Gen. i. 2). Thus his view coin-
cides pretty nearly with that of St. Augustine, whose words, indeed, he seems to
borrow. " ' Terra autem erat inanis et vacua'. Id est, adhuc informis erat ipsa
materia: quia necdum ex ea coelum et terra, necdum omnia formata erant, quae
formari restabant : haec emm materia, ex nihilo facta, praecessit tamen res ex
se factas, non quidem aeternitate vel tempore, sicut praecedit lignum arcam; sed
sola origine, sicut praecedit vox verbum, vel sonus cantum: nam * qui vivit in
aeternum creavit omnia simul' ". Edit. Migne, Pair. Latin. Cursus Completus,
vol. 50, p. 894.
3 In Genes, cap. ii. See Pererius in Genes, cap. ii. v. 4, n 179.
4 Videtur mini Augustino consentiendum". Summa 5. 1, Quaest. 12, art. 6.
See Pianciani, Cosmogonia Naturale, p. 23.
5 Summa, pars. 1. Quaest 74, art. II. : Also in an earlier work, Super Libros
Sententiarum Petri Lcmbardi Commentaiius, Distinct, xii. art I. and III. Having
explained the opinion of Saint Augustine that there was no real succession in
the order of time between the various works of the creation, but that all were
created together : and also the opinion of other Holy Fathers, that there was
13 B
Geology and Revelation.
adopted by Cardinal Cajctan in his commentary on the Book
of Genesis.1
It will be said, perhaps, that we are here arguing against our-
selves: these eminent writers are in favour of reducing the days
of Creation to one single point of time ; whereas it is our pur-
pose to stretch them out to periods of indefinite length. But
no: our object just now is not precisely to establish ^our own
hypothesis, but rather to prepare the way for its discussion. We
want to show that we are quite free to abandon the popular
view of the Mosaic Days if there be good reason for our doing
so. And it seems to us that we have abundantly established
this point by a long list of eminent ecclesiastical writers, who,
without any note of censure, have diverged very widely from the
common interpretation. No doubt they have shortened the
time, and we want to lengthen it. But in this they agree with
us, that the Days of Creation are not,; of necessity, days in the
ordinary sense of the word. Nay, Saint Augustine goes farther
and maintains, from the evidence of the Sacred Text itself,
that they cannot be understood in this sense.2
Having thus cleared away a serious difficulty that seemed to
obstruct our path, we may proceed without hesitation to the
direct object of our inquiry. The burden of proof, let it be
remembered, is not with us, but rather with those who contend
for Days of twenty four hours. They must prove that this word
Day in the first chapter of Genesis means a period of twenty
four hours, and can mean nothing else. If it may be understood
in a wider sense, consistently with the usage of Scripture, that
is quite enough for us. We are perfectly at liberty to adopt an
interpretation which, on the one hand, the Sacred Text fairly
admits, and on the other, the discoveries of Natural Science
would seem to demand. Let us examine, then, the arguments
that are usually adduced in favour of the popular interpretation.
Throughout the first chapter of Genesis the Hebrew word
^ (yom) is everywhere employed by Moses to designate the
Days of Creation. And many writers contend that the use of
this word is, in itself, evidence enough that he spoke of days in
the common sense of the term. It is plain, they say, from the
a real succession, he continues thus : " Prima ergo opinio [Sancti Augustini]
magis convenit rationi, nee est contra Scripturam; quia ea quae in Scriptura
ordinem temporis importare videntur, ad ordinem naturae Agustinus refert:
secundo vero magis convenit Scripturae secundum suum superficiem. Quia
ergo utraque a Sanctis patrocinium habet, utramque sustinendo, objectionibu
hiuc inde factis respondendum est". Loco citato, art. 1. Solatia.
1 Ad cap. i. v. 5. See Fererius in Genes, cap. v. 4, n. 179.
1 See De Genesi ad Litteram, Lib, iv. capp.xxvi., xxrii. : also Lib. i. carp, x.,
xi., xii.
The Mosaic Days. 197
usage of Scripture that the word ** (yom) had a fixed and cer-
tain meaning in the Hebrew language ; the same precisely as
that which we now attach to the English word Day. Some*-
times, when contradistinguished from night, it was applied to
the period of light, from sunrise to sunset ; otherwise it meant
the civil day of twenty four hours, measured by the revolution
of the Sun. Moreover, it had unquestionably attained this
meaning at the time when Moses wrote, and therefore it could
not have been employed by him in any other sense.
This argument rests upon a false foundation. It is true, no
doubt, that the word ^ (yom) was more usually employed in
one or other of the two senses just explained; — that is to say,
(1°) for the period of light from sunrise to sunset, or (2°) for the
period of twenty four hours corresponding to a complete revolu-
tion of the Sun. But, for the validity oi'the argument, it would be
necessary to show that, beside these two senses, there is no other
in which the word may be fairly understood, conformably to the
usage of the Hebrew language. Now this has never yet been
proved. On the contrary, the Scripture affords abundant evi-
dence that the word ^ (yom) had a third meaning quite diffe-
rent from the other two ; that it was freely used to designate a
period of time much longer than a common day, and generally
of uncertain and indefinite duration. A few examples will be
interesting, we hope, to our readers.
In the second chapter of Genesis Moses, having completed his
account of the Creation, says (v. 4) : "These are the generations of
the Heavens and the Earth when they were created, in the Day(^t
yom) that the Lord God created the Earth and the Heavens : (v.
5) And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and
every herb of the field before it grew". There is a good deal of
controversy about the precise meaning of this passage. But one
thing at least appears to be plain, that the word Q-p (yom) is not
used to designate a day of twenty-four hours ; nor yet the period
of light from sunrise to sunset ; but rather the whole period of
the Creation. On this point almost all our best commentators
are agreed. " It is manifest", says Venerable Bede, " that in this
place the sacred writer has put the word Day for all that time
during which the primeval creation was brought into existence.
For it was not upon any one of the Six Days that the sky was
made and adorned with stars, and the dry land was separated
from the waters, and furnished with trees and plants. But, ac-
cording to its accustomed practice, Scripture here uses the word
Day in the sense of time".1 Saint Augustine gives even a wider
1 " Aperte intelligi quia diem hoc loco Scriptura pro omni illo tempore ponit
quo primordialis natura formata est. Neque enim iti unoquolibet sex dieruin
oelum fa«tum cst et sidcribus illustratum, ct terra est separata ab aquis, atquo
•
Geology and Revela'ion.
expansion to the word when he writes: "Seven Days are
enumerated above, and now that is called one Day in which
God made the Heavens and the Earth, and every green thing
of the field; by which term we may well suppose that all time
is meant. For God then made all time when He made crea-
tures that live in time ; and these creatures are here signified by
the Heavens and the Earth".1 Molina on the same passage says :
" Learned writers tell us commonly that Moses^m this place
puts the word Day in the sense of Time, just as in^the passage
of Deuteronomy, * The day of perdition is at hand'. . . . And
elsewhere in Scripture Day is often used for Time".2 Bannez,
too, concurs in this opinion. " The word Day", he says, " can
be understood for any duration whatsoever".* Pererius, answer-
ing an objection taken from this text, says that " Day is put for
Time, as is frequently done in Scripture".* And ^Petavius not
only adopts this interpretation, but contends that it is conform-
able to the usage even of the Greek and Latin writers.5 He
gives an example from Cicero against Verres: " Itaque cum
ego diem in Siciliam perexiquam postulavissem, invenit iste qui
sibi in Achaiam biduo breviorem diem postularet". Here, then,
arboribus et herbis consita; sed more sibisolito Scriptura diem pro tempore ponit ;
quomodo Apostolus cum ait, * Ecce nunc dies salutis', non unum specialiter
diem, sed totum significat tempus hoc quo in praesenti vita pro aeterna salute
laboramus". Hexaemeron, Lib. i. in Gen. ii. 4. Edit. Migne, Pair. Lat. Cursns
Completes, vol. 91, p. 39.
1 " Superius septem dies numerantur, nunc unus dicitur dies, quo die fecit
Deus coelum et terram, et omne viride agri, et omne pabulum, cujus did nomine
omne tempus si'/nificari bene intel/igitur. Fecit enim Deus omne tempus simul
cum omnibus creaturis temporalibus, quae creaturae visibiles coeli et terrae
nomine significantur". De Genesi contra Manithaeos, Lib. ii. cap. iii. n. 4.
2 " Dicunt Doctores communiter, Moysem eo looo sumpsisse diem pro tempore
juxta illud Deuteronomii xxxii., juxta est dies perditionis, .... et alibi saepe,
in Soriptura sumitur dies pro tempore". In primam partem, De opere sex dierumt
D. I. See Pianciani, Cosmogonia Naturale, p. 27.
3 " Dies potest accipi pro quacumque duratione et mensura". In Summa
pars 1, Quaest. 73.
4 " Nee officit huic sententiae, quod paullo superius ex cap. ii Geneseos pro-
latum est, ' In die quo fecit Dominus Deus coelum et terram'. Ibi enim dies
pro tempore, sicut crtbro fit in bcriptura, pusitus es>t". In Gen. cap. ii v. 4.
5 <k Postquam Moyses sex dierum opificium toto primo capite descripsit, mox
in sequenti summatim universeque colligens, ' Istae sunt', inquit, * generationes
coeli et terrae, quando creata sunt, in die quo fecit Dominus Deus coelum et
terrain'. Quae verba non unius diei mentionem faciunt, ut quibusdam videtur ;
qui primum diem designari putant, in quo factum illud est, praeter lucern, quod
initio libri Moyses exphcat, ' Jn principio creavit Deus coelum et terram'. Sed
earn nos opinionem minime probamus, ac supra docuimus, diei nomen istic usur-
pari pro ttmpore; quod apud Graecos Latinosque, non minus quam Htbraeos,
usitatum est. Exemplo sit Ciceronis illud ex libro secundo inVerrem: Itaque
cum ego diem in Sicilian! inquirendi prexiguam postulavissem, invenit ute,
qui sibi in Achaiam biJuo breviorem diem postularet'. Jgitur cum dixisset, in
die, id est tempore illo, factum esse coelum et terram, hoc est perpolitum et ela-
boratum esse sex continuis diebus", etc. De Opifido Sex Dieru»-, Lib. i. cap.
xiv., sect 1.
The Mosaic Days. 199
is an instance in which Moses himself uses the word Day (a>n,
yorri) not in the ordinary sense, but for a long period of time ; —
for all that time, whatever it may have been, which elapsed
from the first act of creation to the close of the Six Days
Another striking example occurs in the prophet Amos, " Be-
hold, the days are coming, saith the Lord God, and I will send
forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst
of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. And they shall
wander from sea to sea and from the north to the east: they shall
go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. In
that day (a'1"1, yom) shall the fair virgins and the young men
faint for thirst".1 Every one will see at a glance that the word
Day in the latter part of this passage does not mean a day of
twenty four hours. It evidently refers to the whole period
during which the calamities here foretold were to be inflicted on
the Jewish people. What that period was may be a question of
dispute. By some it is taken for the time of the Babylonian
captivity ; by others for the present age of the world, in which
the Jews are wanderers on the face of the earth, without a pro-
phet and without a pastor, thirsting for the word of God, and
seeking it in vain. But, in any case, it is clear from the opening
words, " Behold the days are coming", that it was a period not
of one day only, but of many.
Then we have those well known words addressed by God
the Father to His Eternal Son: "Thou art my Son, this day
(a"TI, yom) have I begotten thee".2 The Son of God was be-
gotten by the Father before all ages ; and the day, therefore, on
which He was begotten, canrotbe a common day of twenty-four
hours, but must rather be the long day of Eternity without be-
ginning and without end.
This text, we know, is sometimes applied to the day of our
Lord's Resurrection; and sometimes, too, to the day of His In-
carnation : nor do we want to deny that it may be thus rightly
explained in a secondary and mystical sense. But in its literal
sense we think it plainly refers to the Eternal Generation of the
Son. This meaning is sufficiently implied by the word begotten,
which cannot be understood with propriety, except of that Gene-
ration by virtue of which Our Divine Lord was from Eternity
the natural Son of God. Moreover, this is the sense in which
the passage is adopted by Saint Paul in his Epistle to the
Hebrews. Wishing to show that Our Lord has received by in-
heritance a name more excellent than any given to the Angels,
he argues thus: " For to which of the Angels hath He said at
any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee" ?*
1 Amos, viii. 11, 12. ' Psalm, ii. 7. 2 Heir. i, 5.
200 Geology and Revelation.
Now it seems to us that, unless we understand these words of
the Eternal Generation, the point of the Apostle's argument is
completely lost. The Angels are sometimes called in Scripture
the sons of God ; but they were only the adopted sons, whereas
Our Lord was the natural Son by His Eternal Generation. Con-
sequently it was no other than the Eternal Generation which
made the name of Son more excellent when applied to Christ than
the same name when applied to the angels.
Again, it is quite a common thing, with the prophets gene-
rally, to use the word ^ (yom) for the season of tribulation and
affliction, though the same may have extended over a period of
many days or even many years. Jeremias employs it in this
sense when he describes so vividly the manifold calamities that
were impending over the ill-fated Babylon. " I have caused
thee to fall into a snare, and thou art taken, O Babylon, and
thou wast not aware of it : thou art found and caught because
thou hast provoked the Lord. The Lord hath opened His
armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of His wrath : for
the Lord the God of hosts hath a work to be done in the land
of the Chaldeans. Come ye against her from the uttermost
borders : open, that they may go forth that shall tread her down :
take the stones out of the way, and make heaps, and destroy
her: and let nothing of her be left. Destroy all her valiant men,
let them go down to the slaughter : woe to them, for their day
(B^, yom) is come, the time of their visitation. The voice of
them that flee, and of them that have escaped out of the land of
i5abylon: to declare in Sion the revenge of the Lord our God,
the revenge of His temple. Declare to many against Babylon,
to all that bend the bow : stand together against her round about,
and let none escape; pay her according to her work: according
to all that she hath done, do ye to her : for she hath lifted up
herself against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. There-
fore shall her young men fall in her streets: and all her men of
war shall hold their peace in that day (Btp, yom), saith the
Lord. Behold I come against thee, O proud one, saith the
Lord the God of hosts : for the day (Q!I% yom) is come, the time
of thy visitation. And the proud one shall fall, he shall fall
down, and there shall be none to lift him up : and I will kindle
a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him".1
And in the following chapter: — " Thus saith the Lord: Behold,
I will raise up as it were a pestilential wind against Babylon,
and against the inhabitants thereof who have lifted up their
heart against me. And I will send to Babylon fanners, and
they shall fan her, and shall destroy her land: for they are
1 Jeremias, cap. 1. vv. 24-32.
The Mosaic Days. 201
come upon her on every side in the day (B^, yom) of her afflic-
tion".1
In another place the same prophet applies the word &tp (yom)
to the whole duration of a long campaign carried by on Nabuchod-
onosor against Pharao Nechao, king of Egypt. 4k Prepare ye the
shield and buckler, and go forth to battle. Harness the horses,
and get up, ye horsemen: stand forth with helmets, furbish the
spears, put on coats of mail. What then ? I have seen them
dismayed, and turning their backs, their valiant ones slain:
they fled apace, they looked not back: terror was round about,
saith the Lord. Let not the swift flee away, nor the strong
think to escape : they are overthrown and fallen down, towards
the north by the river Euphrates. Who is this that cometh up
as a flood; and his streams swell like those of rivers? Egypt
riseth up like a flood, and the waves thereof shall be moved as
rivers, and he shall say : I will go up and will cover the earth :
I will destroy the city and its inhabitants. Get ye up on horses,
and glory in chariots, and let the valiant men come forth, the
Ethiopians and the Lybians, that handle the shield, and the
Lydians that handle and bend the bow. For this is the day
(B||I\ yom) of the Lord the God of hosts, a day of vengeance
that He may revenge Himself of His enemies: the sword shall
devour, and shall be filled, and shall be drunk with their blood :
for there is a sacrifice of the Lord God of hosts in the north
country, by the river Euphrates Furnish thyself to go
into captivity, thou daughter inhabitant of Egypt : for Memphis
shall be made desolate, and shall be forsaken and uninhabited.
Egypt is like a fair and beautiful heifer : there shall come from
the north one that shall goad her. Her hirelings also that lived
in the midst of her, like fatted calves are turned back, and are
fled away together, and they could not stand: for the day
(^j yom) of their slaughter is come upon them, the time of
their visitation".2
The prophet Ezechiel, too, furnishes a forcible illustration
when he thus foreshadows the course of a second expedition
against Egypt undertaken by the same prince: — "Therefore
thus saith the Lord God : Behold I will set Nabuchodonosor the
king of Babylon in the land of Egypt: and he shall take her
multitude, and take the booty thereof for a prey, and rifle the
spoils thereof: and it shall be wages for his army ; and for the
service he hath done me against it: I have given him the land of
Egypt, because he hath laboured for me, saith the Lord God.
In that day (ai|\ yom) a horn shall bud forth for the house of
Israel, and I will give thee an open mouth in the midst of them :
1 /</.,!!. l, 2.
27</.,xlvi. 3-10, 19-21.
202 Geoloyy and Revelation,
and they shall know that I am the Lord".1 And a little further
on: _ « for the day (n^, yom) is near, yea the day of the Lord
is near : a cloudy day, it shall be the time of the nations And
the sword shall come upon Egypt : and there shall be dread in
Ethiopia, when the wounded shall fall in Egypt, and the multi-
tude thereof shall be taken away, and the foundations thereof
shall be destroyed. Ethiopia, and Lybia, and Lydia, and all
the rest of the crowd, and Chub, and the children of the land
of the covenant, shall fall with them by the sword. ... And
they shall know that I am the Lord : when I shall have set a fire
in Egypt, and all the helpers thereof shall be destroyed. In that
day (H:P, yom) shall messengers go forth from my face in ships
to destroy the confidence of Ethiopia, and there shall be dread
among them in the day (B:P, yom) of Egypt: because it shall
certainly come".2
Once more, this word is applied to the period of Our Lord's
life upon earth, and even to the whole duration of the Christian
Church. Sophonias, for example, thus foretells the coming of
the kingdom of Christ. " Wherefore expect me, saith the Lord,
in the day of my resurrection that is to come, for my judgment
is to assemble the Gentiles, and to gather the kingdoms .....
From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia shall my suppliants, the
children of my dispersed people, bring me an offering. In that
day (D>n, yom) thou shalt not be ashamed for all thy doings,
wherein thou hast transgressed against me : for then I will take
away out of the midst of thee thy proud boasters, and thou shalt
no more be lifted up because of my holy mountain. . . . Give
praise, O daughter of Sion: shout, O Israel: be glad and rejoice
with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath
taken away thy judgment, he hath turned away thy enemies:
the King of Israel the Lord is in the midst of thee, thou shalt
fear evil no more. In that day (fitn, yom) it shall be said to
Jerusalem : Fear not : to Sion : Let not thy hands be weakened.
The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, He will save :
He will rejoice over thee with gladness, He will be silent in His
love, He will be joyful over thee in praise".3
And Isaias: " Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanon
shall be turned into a charmel, and charmel shall be esteemed as
a forest? And in that day (D!P, yom) the deaf shall hear the
words of the book, and out of darkness and obscurity the eyes
of the blind shall see. And the meek shall increase their joy in
the Lord, and the poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of
Israel".4 That this passage refers to the time of the Christian
Church there can be no doubt ; for our Lord Himself appeals to
1 Ezechiel, xxix. 19-21. 2 Id., xxx. 3-9.
3 Sophonias, v. 8-11, 14-17. * Isaias, xxix. 17-19
The Mosaic Days. 203
it in proof of His Divine mission: " Go and relate to John what
you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor
have the Gospel preached to them".1
We may trace this use of the word even in the New Testa-
ment. Our Lord says, arguing with the Jews: " Abraham your
father rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it and was
glad".2 Saint Paul, too, though writing in the Greek language
to the Corinthians, does not hesitate to ado]:t a passage from
Isaias, in which the same meaning is conspicuously brought
out: " And we helping do exhort you, that you receive not the
grace of God in vain. For He saith : In an accepted time have
I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have 1 helped thee. Be-
hold, now is the acceptable time: behold, now is the day of sal-
valion".* And finally, Our Divine Lord, in His last touching
address to the city of Jerusalem, applies the word Day to the
season of grace and mercy : " When He drew near, seeing the
city, He wept over it, saying: If thou also hadst known, and
that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now
they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon
thee ; aud thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and com-
pass thee round, and straiten thee on every side".4
So much, then, for the first argument. From the numerous
examples we have given it is plain enough that the word a<n
(yom), in Scripture language, was often used for a period of
many days, and even many years; nay sometimes for a period
of many centuries. If so, Moses was free to use it in this sense.
And consequently, as far as the word itself is concerned, it
affords no conclusive proof that the Days of Creation were days
of twenty four hours only : we may hold them to be long and
indefinite periods of time, without departing in any degree from
the established usage of Scripture.
But it is urged, — and this is the second argument, — that,
whatever may be the meaning of the word B^ (yom) elsewhere,
in the first chapter of Genesis it must mean a day of twenty four
hours. For, we are not merely told that there was & first day,
and a second day, and a third day; but each day is in a manner
analysed by the sacred writer, and its component parts set forth
for our instruction. There was evening and there was morning,
he says, the first day ; there was evening and there was morning
the second day ; there was evening and there was morning the
third day ; and so on. Now if the word were understood of
those indefinite periods we have been speaking about, there
1 Matth., xi. 4, 5. * John, viii. 56.
3 II. Cor, vii. 1. 2. « Luke, xix. 41-43.
204 Geolcgy and Revelation.
would be no meaning in the analysis : for it could hardly be
maintained that each of those periods had but one evening and
one morning like an ordinary day. Furthermore, it is argued
that there is a peculiar appropriateness in this phrase, which
goes far to confirm the common interpretation. Amongst the
Jews it was usual to compute the civil day from sunset to sunset.
The civil day began then with the evening. And accordingly
Moses, in describing the Days of Creation, puts the evening
first, and says : There was evening and there was morning the
first day ; there was evening and there was morning the second
day ; and so for the rest.
All this reasoning seems to us unsatisfactory and inconclusive.
In the first place, it is not a fact, as would seem to be supposed,
that the civil day is made up of evening and morning. The
evening and the morning do not make the whole day ; they are
only certain periods of the day. Neither do they mark the
limits of the day : for, though it is quite true that, in the compu-
tation of the Jews, the civil day began with the evening, it cer-
tainly did not end with the morning. If, then, by the word
Day Moses here meant the civil day of twenty four hours, how
is this clause to be understood, There was evening and there
was morning the first day ? It cannot mean that the evening
and the morning put together made up the first day: for this is
not a fact. It cannot mean that the evening marked the be-
ginning of the day, and the morning marked its close : for the
period included between the evening and the morning is not
the day but the night. What does it mean then ?
Many writers seem to suppose that the evening and the
morning are intended by Moses to designate the night and the
day ; — that is to say, the whole period of darkness and the whole
period of light, which put together make up the civil day of
twenty four hours. If the text could be explained in this way, it
would fit in, no doubt, much more appropriately with the theory
of ordinary days than with the theory of indefinite periods.
But the text cannot be explained in this way. The evening is
not the whole period of darkness, and the morning is not the
whole period of light. No English writer could say, with pro-
priety, that the Day is made up of the evening and the morning.
Neither could Moses have meant to say this in the first chap-
ter of Genesis: for the Hebrew words a<g (Ghereb) and "?.*
(Boker), which are found in the original text, have a meaning
not less fixed and definite than the corresponding words evening
and morning in the English language.
To prove the truth of this assertion by an investigation of all
the passages in the Hebrew Bible in which these words are
found, would be a tedious and uninteresting task. But it may
The Mosaic Days. 205
be easily tested in another way. If the words *?.?. (Ghereb)
and ^ (Boker) were ever used to mean not strictly the even-
ing and the morning, but the whole period of night and the
whole period of day, this fact would surely have become known
in the course of time to some of the many eminent and accom-
plished Hebrew lexicographers. We ask, then, is there one
Hebrew lexicon of note which assigns the sense of night to
the word n"?.? (Ghereb) and the sense of day to the word hj3
(Boker). For ourselves we have searched several of the best
of them, and we have not found a single one that even hints at
such an explanation.
Perhaps, however, some of our readers might be unwilling to
accept the authority of lexicons as conclusive on a point of this
kind ; seeing that lexicons very often represent but imperfectly
the full power of a language. Well, then, there is another
process, and a simple one enough, by which they may demon-
strate the inaccuracy of our statement, if inaccurate it be. Let
them produce any passage from the Hebrew Bible in which the
words nv?. (Ghereb) and ^ (Boker) are employed to desig-
nate the whole night and the whole day. If they fail to do
so, — and as far as we are aware no such passage has yet been
discovered, — then surely we may fairly contend that the inter-
pretation which thus explains the words in the first chapter of
Genesis cannot be regarded as certain: nor can the argument
founded on that interpretation be received as conclusive.
There is a text in the eighth chapter of the prophet Daniel
which might, perhaps, appear, at first sight, to militate against
our opinion. The prophet had a vision in which it was fore-
shadowed that Antiochus Epiphanes should come and prevail
against the Jews, and should profane the temple of God, and
should abolish the daily sacrifice. And one of the Angels in
the vision is heard asking of another, for how long should the
daily sacrifice cease, and the sanctuary remain desolate. And
the answer is given in these words : " Unto evening — morning
(T* **:*. n? ghad ghereb boker) two thousand three hundred;
then shall the sanctuary be cleansed".1 Now this is commonly
understood to mean that the daily sacrifice should be abolished
for two thousand three hundred days. And therefore it would
seem that, in this passage, the evening and morning are used to
signify the whole civil day of twenty four hours.
We will not dispute the correctness of the interpretation
which is here set forth, although the words of the Angel are
explained in a very different sense by many eminent commen-
tators. But we think that the passage, even when understood
1 Z>an., viii. 14.
206 Geology and Revelation.
according to this interpretation, cannot fairly be brought in evi-
dence against us. The evening and the morning do not make
up the whole day : but they occur once, and only once, in each
day. Therefore a period of many days may be properly signified
by noting the recurrence of the evening and morning a certain
number of times. And in point of fact a usage of this kind
seems to prevail in most languages. The common word fort-
night in English affords a good illustration. It signifies a period
of fourteen nights and days : yet it does not specify the recur-
rence of fourteen days, but only the recurrence of fourteen
nights. Again the poet says :
"Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers".
Nobody would argue from these examples that the word sum-
mer means a period of twelve months ; or that the word night
means a period of twenty four hours. And so, in the case before
us, the recurrence of the evening and morning two thousand
three hundred times may be pointed out to mark a period of
two thousand three hundred days, although the evening and
morning are not the whole day, but only certain parts of the
day. Nay more, we fancy we can see a good reason why the
Angel in the vision should single out the evening and the
morning for special notice. He had been asked about the pro-
fanation of the sanctuary and the abolition of the daily sacrifice.
Now it was in the evening and the morning that the daily
sacrifice was wont to be offered. And the Angel seems to
answer : The evening and the morning shall return two thousand
three hundred times ; and there shall be no evening and morn-
ing sacrifice : but after that time the sanctuary shall be cleansed
and the sacrifice restored.
So far we have been arguing from the common usage of
Scripture that the evening and the morning mentioned in the
history of the Creation cannot mean the whole night and the
whole day. But there is a special objection against this inter-
pretation from the history of the Creation itself. The fifth verse
in the first chapter of Genesis runs thus: " And God called the
light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was
evening and there was morning the first day". In the first sen-
tence it is recorded that God, having divided the light from the
darkness, gave to each its proper name: He called the light,
Day, and the darkness, Night. Is it not highly improbable
that, after this announcement, the sacred writer would himself,
in the very next sentence, employ names altogether different, if
he wished to designate the period of light and the period of
darkness?
The Mosaic Day*. 207
We are not maintaining that the phrase under consideration —
" there was evening and there was morning the First Day" —
cannot be explained in the hypothesis that the Days of Creation
were days of twenty four hours. But we do contend that
it affords no conclusive proof in favour of that hypothesis ; be-
cause even in that hypothesis the meaning of the phrase is still
doubtful and obscure. For ourselves we candidly confess we
can offer no explanation that seems to us, in any system of in-
terpretation, altogether satisfactory. We may be allowed, how-
ever, to call attention to an opinion put forward by Saint Augus-
tine, which fits in very appropriately with the doctrine that the
Days of Creation were long periods of time. The distinctions
of evening and morning, he says, are not to be understood in
reference to the rising and setting of the Sun, which in point of fact
was not created until the fourth day ; but rather in reference to
the works themselves that are recorded to have been produced.
In this way the evening will naturally represent the bringing
to an end of the work that had been accomplished; and the
morning, on the other hand, the coming in of the work that was
to be.1 This opinion was afterwards adopted by Saint Euche-
rius, Bishop of Lyons, who seems almost to borrow the very
words of Saint Augustine ;* and also by Venerable Bede, who
siys: " What is the evening, but the completion of each work?
and the morning, but the beginning of the next?3 In the twelfth
1 " Tres enim dies superiores quomodo esse sine sole potuerunt, cum videamus
nunc so! is ortu et occasu diem transigi, noctera vero fieri solis absentia, cum ab
alia parte mundi ad orientem redit? Quibus respondemus, potuisse fieri ut tres
superiores dies singuli ptr tantam morani temporis computaremur. per quantam
moram circumit sol, ex quo procedit ab oriente quousque rursus ad orientem re-
vertitur. Hanc en^m moram et longitudinem temporis po&sent sentire homines
etiamsi in speluncis habitarent, ubi orientem et occidentem solem videre non
possent. Atque ita sentitur potuisse istam moram fieri etiam sine sole antequam
sol factus esset, atque ipsam moram in illo triduoper dies singulos computatam.
Hoc ergo responderemus, nisi nos revocaret quod ibi dicitur, ' Et facta est ves-
pera et factum est mane', quod nunc sine solis cursu videmus fieri non posse.
Restat ergo ut intelligamus, in ipsa quidem mora temporis ipsas distinctiones
operum sic appellatas, vesperam propter transactionem consummate operis, et mane
propter inchoationem futuri operis ; de similitudme scilicet humanorum operum,
quia plerumque a rnane incipiunt, et ad vesperam desinunt. Habent enim
consuetudinem Divinae Scripturae de rebus humanis ad divinas res vcrba trans-
ferre". De Genesf. contra Mawchaeos, Lib. i. cap. xiv. n. 20.
2 Comment, in Genes, cap i. v. 4. it is uncertain, as we before observed, if
this commentary is the genuine work of Saint Eucherius; at all events it is the
production of some learned and Catholic writer of the fifth or sixth century.
His words run thus : — * Vespere conditae creaturae terminus ; mane initium con-
dendae creaturat alterius". Edit. Migne, Pair. Latin. Cursus Completes, vol. 50,
p. &97. And again in v. 10 et seqq. :— %< Si quarto die facta sunt luminaria,
quomodo tres dies jam ante fuerunt? nisi ut intelligamus, in ipsa hora tem-
poris ipsas operum distinctioces ita appellatas; vesperam propter transactionem
consummate operis ; mane propter inchoationem f uiuri diei ; in siimhtudinem
humanorum operum quod plerique inane incipiunt et iii vesperam desinunt".
Ib , p. 899.
* " Quid tst vespere, nisi ipsa perfectio singulorum operum ? et mane, id est
203 Geology and Revelation.
centuty we find it again set forth by Saint Hildegarde, who was
considered by Saint Bernard, as well as by Pope Eugenius the
Third, to have been gifted with the spirit of prophecy.1 This
interpretation, it is true, does not explain the words evening and
morning according to their literal signification: but then the
metaphorical sense it ascribes to them is both simple and appro-
priate ; more especially if we understand the word Day in the
sense of a long and indefinite period. As the morning literally
means the break of day, and the evening its decline, the Sacred
Writer might, not inaptly, have employed these words to repre-
sent metaphorically the opening and the close of the various
works which are ascribed to each successive period in the history
of the Creation.
It may be observed, moreover, that this explanation seems
quite in accord with the etymology of the Hebrew words a!JJ
(Ghereb), and *%* (Boker). The latter- is formed from the
root "I?3. (Bokar), to lay open, and used to signify the
morning, because in the morning the light of the sun is, as it
were, unveiled, and laid open to the earth. Hence, the word
might be applied with much propriety, in a metaphorical sense,
to the unfolding of the various works of God, as each new pe-
riod was, in its turn, ushered in with a new act of creation On
the other hand, nv?. (Ghereb) seems to be derived from al?.
(Gharab), to mingle, and has probably come to signify the
evening, as the famous Hebrew scholar, Aben Ezra, suggests,
because, in the uncertain light of evening, the forms of external
objects lose their distinctness of outline, and become, in a man-
ner, blended together. And so this word might have been
employed, not unfitly, to represent the close of each period in
the creation, which was marked, as geologists tell us, by the
gradual dying out or extinction of the various forms of life
peculiar to that period. Anyhow, in following the opinion of so
ancient and so venerable an authority as Saint Augustine, we
cannot be charged with unduly straining the Sacred Text to
meet the exigencies of modern science.
The next argument is founded on a passage in Exodus, to
which we have had occasion already to refer : " Six days shalt
thou labour and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the
inchoatio sequentium ?'' D& Sex Dierum Creatione, De Prima Die. Edit. Migue
Patrum Lat. Cursus Completes, vol. 93, p. 210.
In another place he says : " Vespere autem in toto illo triduo, antequam
lurainaria essent, consummate operis terminus non absurde fortasse intelligitur ;
Mane autem fulurce operalionis signification. In Pentateuchum Comment. Gen,
c«ip. i. Migne, rol. 91, p. 194.
1 '' Sex enim dies, sex opera sunt; quia inceptio et completio einguli cujusque
operis dies dicitur". Epist, ad Colonieuses, See Pianciani, Cosmogonia, p. 34.
The Mosaic Days. 209
Sabbath of the Lord thy God : thou shalt do no work on it,
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man servant, nor
thy maid servant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within
thy gates. For in six days the Lord made the Heavens and
the Earth, and the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the
seventh day ; therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and
sanctified it".1 We are to work upon six days, and to rest
upon the seventh ; because in six days God accomplished all the
works of the creation, and rested on the seventh. There can be
no mistake as to the meaning of this commandment. The six
days on which it is lawful to labour are, beyond all doubt, six
days in the common sense of the word ; six days of twenty-four
hours each ; and the seventh day, on which it is forbidden to
work, is a day of the same kind. But the example of God's
labour and God's rest is set forth in the text as the pattern after
which this law of the Sabbath was framed. And, therefore,
the six days in which God furnished and embellished the earth
must have been likewise six days of twenty-four hours each.
This argument is regarded by many writers as decisive.
To us, on the contrary, it seems by no means necessary to
understand the days on which God laboured and rested in pre-
cisely the same sense as the days on which it is enjoined that
we should labour and rest. The example of God is, no doubt,
represented in the Sacred Text as the reason for the Jewish
Sabbath : six days shalt thou labour, and rest upon the seventh ;
for in six days the Lord made the Heavens and the Earth, and
rested on the seventh. But, suppose for a moment that the
days of the creation were long periods of time, will not the sig-
nificance of this reason still remain unchanged ? As God, in
the great work of the creation, laboured for six successive pe-
riods, and then rested for a seventh, so shall you likewise do all
your work during six of those successive periods into which
your time is divided, and rest upon the seventh.
In support of this view, we may observe that the Jews were
commanded to abstain from work not only every seventh day,
but also every seventh year". " Six years thou shalt sow thy
ground, and shalt gather the corn thereof; but the seventh year
thou shalt let it alone, and suffer it to rest, that the poor of thy
people may eat, and whatsoever shall be left let the beasts of the
field eat it: in like manner shalt thou do with thy vineyard and
thy oliveyard. Six days shalt thou work : the seventh day thou
shalt cease, that thy ox and thy ass may rest; and the son of
thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed".2 And in
another place we read: " When you shall have entered into
1 Exodus, xx. 9-11.
2 Exodus, xxiii. 10-12.
VOL. V, 14
210 Geology and Revelation.
the land which I will give you, observe the rest of the Sabbath
to the Lord. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years
thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and shalt gather the fruits there-
of; but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath to the
land, of the resting of the Lord : thou shalt not sow thy field,
nor prune thy vineyard. Wnat the ground shall bring forth of
itself thou shalt not reap : neither shalt thou gather the grapes of
the first fruits as a vintage ; for it is a year of rest to the land :
But they shall be unto you for meat; to thee, and to thy man-
servant, and to thy maid-servant, and to thy hireling, and to the
strangers that sojourn with thee, to thy beasts of burden, and to
thy cattle, all things that grow shall be for meat".1 The seventh
year, then, according to Divine command, was a year of rest
among the Jews, just as the seventh day was a day of rest;
and it is evident that the one precept, no less than the other,
was founded on the great example of God's rest when He had
finished the work of Creation. We are satisfied, therefore, that
whatever may have been the length of those six days in which
God laboured, and of the seventh day on which He rested, His
example might still be properly set forth as the model on which
the law of the Sabbath was founded.
It is urged, however, that in this passage of Exodus, we have
the same word ^ (yom) applied in the very same context to
the six days of the Creation and to the six days of the week ;
and we can hardly suppose that the inspired writer would pass
thus suddenly from one meaning of the word to another and a
very different meaning, without giving any intimation to his read-
ers of such a transition. If this argument is a good one, we can
only say that it completely oversets the opinion of those against
whom we are contending. In the fifth verse of the first chapter
of Genesis we read: "And God called the light Day, and the
darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there
was morning the first Day". Now, those who reject the theory
oflong periods maintain that, by the word Day in the latter
part of this verse, is meant the whole civil day of twenty-four
hours ; while it is plain that, in the earlier part of the verse,
the same word Day is emphatically applied to only a part of
that period — that is, to the time of light as distinguished from,
the time of darkness. Therefore, they are themselves, in fact,
upholding an interpretation which supposes the inspired writer
to pass from one meaning of the word Day to another, with-
out any intimation of a change of meaning.
But we do not want to shrink from dealing with this argu-
ment on its own merits. The principle on which it is founded
seems to us unsound, and inconsistent with the evidence of the
1 Levitirus, xxr. 2-7.
The Mosaic Days. 211
Sacred Books themselves. It is quite a common tiling, we con-
tend, in Scripture, for the writer to pass from one meaning of a
word to another without any explicit indication of such a tran-
sition, when, as in the case before us, the two senses, though
different, are analogous: the one being, as it were, the figure,
or the symbol, or the pattern, of the other. A few examples
will make this quite clear. In the Second Epistle of St. Paul
to the Corinthians we read as follows : " For the charity of
Christ presseth us: judging this, that if one died for all, then
all were dead; and Christ died for all".1 Here, when it is said
that " all were dead", the meaning is, that all men were dead
spiritually by sin ; whereas, in the clause immediately preceding,
and in the clause immediately following, the same word is used
in its literal sense for the death of Christ upon the cross. And
yet the Apostle, though he thus passed from the literal to the
metaphorical sense of the word, and then back again from the
metaphorical sense to the literal, gives no express indication of
these transitions.
Again, in the Gospel, when a certain man, being called by
our Lord, said: "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my
father ", Jesus reproved him in these words: "Let the dead
bury their dead; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God".2
There is some difference of opinion amongst commentators as to
the exact meaning of this phrase. But whatever interpretation
be adopted, it seems evident from the context that the dead to be
buried were those who were literally dead; whereas the dead
who were to bury them were manifestly not those who were lite-
rally dead, but those who were dead in some analogous or
metaphorical sense. Another example occurs in the twentieth
chapter of Saint John. Christ says to His Apostles: "I
ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your
God ".3 When He says, " I ascend to my Father ", the meaning
is, " to Him who has begotten me from all eternity". When
He adds, " and your Father", the meaning is, " to Him who
has adopted you for His children". Here, then, the word
Father is first used in the sense of a natural father, and
immediately after in the sense of a father by adoption, without
any explicit declaration of a change in meaning.
The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans furnishes an in-
stance in which this transition from one meaning to another
occurs in the case of the word Day itself: " The night is passed,
and the day is at hand. Let us, therefore, cast off the works of
darkness, and put on the armour! of light. Let us walk
honestly as in the day"S The word Day, in the earlier part
1 II. Cor. v. 14, 15. * Matt., viii. 22 ; Luke, ix. 60,
3 John, xx. 17, * Rom., xiii. 12, 13,
212 Geology and Revelation.
of this passage, is used by Saint Paul for the Day of Eternity
which is to follow the darkness of this life; while, in the next
sentence, it means clearly the period of light between sunrise
and sunset. Another illustration of the same kind occurs in
the first Epistle to the Thessalonians. " But you, brethren, are
not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief;
for you are all the children of light and the children of the
day 'V No one familiar with the language of Scripture can
doubt that the first day here is the Day of Judgment ; and it is
quite plain that the second day is not the Day of Judgment.
Our next example, and one most appropriate to our purpose,
is taken from the prophet Amos : "And it shall come to pass in
that day, saith the Lord God, that I will make the sun go down
at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day"? This
prophecy is commonly referred by the Fathers to the time of
our Lord, when the earth was darkened in the clear day on the
occasion of His crucifixion ; but some eminent authorities, with
Saint Jerome at their head, explain it of the Captivity in Baby-
lon. Either interpretation will suit our argument. The sacred
writer first employs the word Day for a long period of time,
and afterwards proceeds to use it in its more ordinary sense,
without giving his readers any express intimation of such a
transition.
We hope it is now pretty clear that neither the reason
assigned for the institution of the Sabbath Day, nor the particu-
lar form of words in which that ordinance is set forth, offers any
insurmountable obstacle to the opinion we are defending. And
this is quite enough for our purpose. For we would again
remind our readers that we are not attempting to prove from
the Sacred Text that this opinion must be true, but only that it
may be true. Our object has been sufficiently attained if we
have succeeded in showing that the hypothesis which makes the
Days of Creation long periods, is not absolutely inconsistent
with the language of Scripture. We are tempted, however, in
the case of this objection, to ,go somewhat further than the
scope of our argument strictly demands. The text we have
just been discussing brings before us, in fact, a consideration of
great weight in favour of the system of long periods. "In
six days the Lord made the Heavens and the Earth and the
sea, and all that ia them is, and rested on the seventh day".
Now, what was this Seventh Day on which God rested? Was
it a common day of twenty four hours? or was it rather a long
and undefined period of time? Saint Augustine answers
plainly enough : " The seventh day", he says, " is without an
1 1. Thessal, v. 4, 5.
8 Amos, viii, 9,
The Mosaic Days. 213
evening, and has no setting".1 And Venerable Bede, asking
why the sacred writer had assigned no evening to the seventh
day, gives this answer: " Because it has no end> and is shut in
by no limit ".2 The common sentiment of Theologians, as far
as w6 know, seems to point in the same direction. They tell
us that God is said to have rested, inasmuch as He ceased from
the creation of new species ; and they hold that since the close
of the Six Days no new species have been brought into exist-
ence. But whether this be true or not, it would be very difficult,
we think, to point out any sensa in which God can be said to
have rested after the work of the Six Days, and in which He
is not resting at the present moment. If so, the day of His
rest is still going on; and it is not a period of twenty four
hours only, but a period of many thousand years. Now, if the
Seventh Day on which God rested is a period of many thousand
years, are we not fully justified in supposing that the Six Days
on which He formed and furnished the Heavens and the Earth,
were likewise periods of many ages ?
The results at which we have arrived in this long dis-
cussion may be briefly summed up. First, many illustrious
Fathers of the Church — Saint Augustine, Origen, Clement of
Alexandria, Saint Athanasius, and others, — plainly declared
against the opinion that the Days of Creation were days in the
ordinary sense of the word; and, therefore, it is a mistake to
suppose that this opinion is supported by the unanimous voice
of Christian tradition. Secondly, the word Day is frequently
used in Scripture for a long period of time, and sometimes for a
period of indefinite duration. Thirdly, there is nothing in the
language of Moses that forbids us to explain the word according
to this sense in the first chapter of Genesis. And, fourthly,
there is, at least, one grave consideration, derived from Holy
Scripture itself, which distinctly points to such an interpreta-
tion. The Six Days of Creation are contrasted with the
Seventh Day of God's rest; and this Seventh Day of God's
rest is unquestionably a long period of undefined duration.
From all this, it is obvious to conclude that we may fairly
adopt this mode of interpreting the Mosaic Days, if it will
assist us in reconciling the received conclusions of science with
the truths of Revelation.
'"Dies autem septimus sine vespere est, nee habet oecasum". — Confess.
Lib. xiii., cap. xxxvi.
8 " Quia flnem mm habet, neque nulla termino clauditur". — De Sex Dierum
Creatione, De Die Septima, Edit. Migne. Pair. Lat. Cursus Completes, vol. 93,
p. 218. And elsewhere he says : " Septimus dies coepit a mane et in nullo
vespere terminatur'"— In Pentateuch. Comment., Gen. ii., Edit. Migne, vol. 91,
p. 203.
214 Geology and Revelation.
Now there is a striking resemblance, in some important re-
spects, between the order of Creation, as set forth m the succes-
sive days of the Sacred Record, and the order of Creation as
exhibited in the successive periods of Geological time. Three
days are specially marked out by the Inspired Historian as
distinguished by the creation of vegetable and animal life, — the
Third" the Fifth, and the Sixth. On the Third Day were created
plants and trees ; on the Fifth, reptiles, fish, and birds ; on the
Sixth, cattle, and the beasts of the earth, and, towards the end,
man himself. Geologists, on the other hand, not influenced in
the least degree by the Scripture narrative, but guided chiefly
by the remains of animal and vegetable life which are preserved
in the Crust of the Earth, have established three leading divi-
sions of Geological time, — the Palaeozoic, or first great age of
organic life, the Mesozoic, or second great age of organic life,
and the Kainozoic, or third great age of organic life. Here,
no doubt, is a remarkable coincidence. But it would be still
more remarkable if we could recognize, in the three epochs of
Geology, the same general characteristics of organic life as we
find ascribed by Moses to the three successive days of the
Bible narrative. And so we may, it is said, if we will only
take the pains to examine for ourselves the organic remains of
these geological epochs as they lie dispersed through the Crust
of the Earth, or even as they are to be found collected and
arranged for exhibition in our museums. The first great age
of Geology is eminently distinguished for its plants and trees ;
the second, for its huge reptiles and great sea monsters; the
third, for its vast herds of noble quadrupeds. Nay, to com-
plete the harmony between the two Records, as man is repre-
sented by the Inspired Writer to have been created towards the
close of the last day, so, towards the close of the last geological
age, the remains of man and of his works are found, for the
first time, laid by in the archives of the Earth.
Such is the coincidence which some ingenious writers fancy
they can trace between the history of creation that is set forth
in the ^written Word of God, and the history of creation that is
so curiously inscribed upon His works. Our readers, perhaps,
will not be unwilling to consider it a little more in detail. We
read, in the first chapter of Genesis, that on the Third Day God
said: " Let the earth^ bring forth the green herb, and such as
may seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind, which
may have seed in itself upon the earth. And it was so done.
And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yield-
eth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit,
having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that
The Mosaic Days. 215
it was good".1 Let us now turn to the Carboniferous Period
of Geology, which occupies a large space in the great Palaeozoic
age. All writers agree that it was specially marked by a gor-
geous and luxuriant vegetation: and as we contemplate the
multitudinous remains of plants and trees which have been
gathered so abundantly in our coal measures, and ranged with
such striking effect along the walls of our museums, we can
scarcely help thinking that we have before us a practical com-
mentary on the text of Moses. The gifted Hugh Miller, who
is universally allowed to have been one of the most practical
and experienced Geologists of the modern school, gives a very
picturesque and graphic sketch of the Carboniferous flora. " In
no other age ", he says, " did the world ever witness such a
flora : the youth of the earth was peculiarly a green and umbra-
geous youth, — a youth of dusk and tangled forests, — of huge
pines and stately auracarians, — of the reed-like calamite, the
tall tree-fern, the sculptured sigillaria, and the hirsute lepido-
dendron. Wherever dry land, or shallow lake, or running
stream appeared, from where Melville Island now spreads out its
ice wastes under the star of the pole, to where the arid plains of
Australia lie solitary beneath the bright cross of the south, a
rank and luxuriant herbage cumbered every footbreadth of the
dank and steaming soil; and even to distant planets our earth
must have shown, through the enveloping cloud, with a, green
and delicate ray ".2 Such an age as this might well be described
in history as the age in which the earth brought forth the green
herb, and the fruit tree yielding seed according to its kind.
Again, the work of the Fifth Day is thus described in the
Sacred Narrative:—" God also said: Let the waters bring forth
the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly
over the earth under the firmament of Heaven. And God
created the great whales, and every living and moving crea-
ture which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds,
and every winded fowl, according to its kind. And God saw
that it was good ".3 And in this case, as in the former, we may
find the counterpart of the Bible story in the records of Geo-
logy. " The secondary age of the geologist ", says the eminent
writer from whom we have already quoted, '* possessed, like the
earlier one, its herbs and plants, but they were of a greatly
less luxuriant and conspicuous character than their predecessors,
and no longer formed the prominent trait or feature of the
creation to which they belonged. ^ The period had also its
corals, its crustaceans, its molluscs, its fishes, and, in some one
1 Gen.,i. 11. 12.
2 The Testimony of th* Rocks, p. 12&.
3 Genesis, i. 20, 21.
Geology and Revelation.
r two exceptional instances, its dwarf mammals. But the
Ind existences of the age -the existences m which it ex-
felled every other creation, earlier or later -were its huge
creeping things,-its enormous monsters of the deep,- and as
shown by the impressions of their footprints stamped upon the
rocks, its gigantic birds. It was peculiarly the age of egg-
bearing animals, winged and wingless. Its wonderful whales,
not however as now, of the mammalian, but of the reptilian
class,— ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and cetiosaurs,— must have
tempested the deep; its creeping lizards aud crocodiles, such as
the teliosaurus, megalosaurus, and iguanodon,— creatures some
of which more than rivalled the existing elephant in height,
and greatly more than rivalled him in bulk,— must have
crowded the plains, or haunted by myriads the rivers of the
peiiod ; and we know that the foot-prints of, at least, one of its
many birds, are fully twice the size of those made by the horse
or camel. We are thus prepared to demonstrate that the second
period of the geologist was peculiarly and characteristically a
period of whale-like reptiles of the sea, of ^enormous creeping
reptiles of the land, and of numerous birds, some of them
of gigantic size 'V
Once more, it is written that, on the Sixth Day, " God
said: Let the earth bring forth the living creature in its kind,
cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to
their kinds. And it was so done. And God made the beasts
of the earth according to their kinds, and cattle and every
thing that creepeth on the earth after its kind. And God
saw that it was good".2 And again, Geology seems to con-
firm the truth of the Inspired narrative, and to fill up the
details of the picture. " The Tertiary period", continues Hugh
Miller, " had also its prominent class existences. Its flora seems
to have been no more conspicuous than that of the present time ;
its reptiles occupy a very subordinate place ; but its beasts of the
field were by far the most wonderfully developed, both in size
and numbers, that ever appeared upon the earth. Its mammoths
and its mastodons, its rhinoceri and its hippopotami, its enormous
dimotherium and colossal megatherium, greatly more than
equalled in bulk the greatest mammals of the present time, and
vastly exceeded them in number. The remains of one of its
elephants (Elephas primigenius) are still so abundant amid the
frozen wastes of Siberia, that what have been not inappropiately
termed * ivory quarries' have been wrought among their bone's
for more than a hundred years. Even in our own country, of
which, as I have already shown, this elephant was for long ages
a native, so abundant are the skeletons and tusks, that there is
1 Testimony of the Rocks, p. 126. 2 Genesis, I 24, 25.
T/te Mosaic Days. 217
scarcely a local museum in the kingdom that has not its speci-
mens, dug out of the Pleistocene deposits of the neighbourhood.
And with this ancient elephant there were meetly associated
in Britain, as on the northern continents generally all around
the globe, many other mammals of corresponding magnitude.
* Grand indeed', says an English naturalist, ' was the fauna of
the British islands in those early days. Tigers as large again
as the biggest Asiatic species lurked in the ancient thickets ;
elephants nearly twice the size of the largest individuals that
now exist in Africa or Ceylon roamed in herds ; at least two
species of the rhinoceros forced their way through the primeval
forest ; and the lakes and rivers were tenanted by hippopotami as
bulky, and with as great tusks as those of Africa'. The massive
cave-bear and large cave-hyaena belonged to the same formid-
able group, with at least two species of great oxen, with a horse
of smaller size, and an elk that stood ten feet four inches in
height. Truly this Tertiary age — this third and last of the
geologic periods — was peculiarly the age of great beasts of the
earth after their kind, and of cattle after their kind' 'V
We shall be told, perhaps, that there are Six Days assigned
to the work of creation in the Mosaic narrative, and that we
have accounted but for three. Let it be remembered, however,
that Geology does not profess to give a complete history of our
globe. It can set before us those events only which have left
their impress indelibly stamped upon the rocks that compose the
Crust of the Earth. These events Geologists have attempted to
reduce to the order of a chronological system : and in prosecu-
ting this task they have been guided almost exclusively by the
evidence of Organic Remains. Hence it was not to be expected
that, in Geological Chronology, we should find a Period spe-
cially set apart as the Period in which Light was made; or
another as the Period in which the Firmament was spread out
over the Earth ; or a Third as the Period in which the sun and
moon and stars shone forth in the expanse of Heaven. Such
phenomena had, indeed, a very important influence on the
physical condition of our globe. But they must occupy a very
secondary place, if indeed they are distinctly chronicled at all
in the records of Geology. It is the formation of rocks and the
imbedding therein of Fossil Remains that constitute the main
study of the Geologist, and that guide him in the distribution of
Geological time.
Furthermore, we would observe that the scheme of Chronology
which Geologists put before us, affords abundant room for each
iind all of the Mosaic Days. Let it be assumed for a moment
that the Carboniferous Period corresponds with the Third Day
1 Testimony oj the Rocks, pp. 127, 128.
Geolagy and Revelation.
of the Sacred narrative. The earlier Periods of the Palaeozoic
A<re will then fit in with the First and Second Days of Scrip-
ture ; and the Permian, which intervenes between the ( Carboni-
ferous Period andjthe Secondary Age, may be supposed to cor-
respond with the Fourth Day of Scripture. This adjustment
between the Mosaic Days and the Periods of Geology will pro-
bably be made more intelligible to the general reader by the aid
of the following table :
DAYS. PERIODS. EPOCHS.
("Recent "1
Post Pliocene Kainozoic
Sixth Mosaic Day. \ Pliocene V or
I Miocene Tertiary Age.
l_Eocene J
fCretaceoui ) Mesozoic
Fifth Mosaic Day. ^Jurassic > or
(Triassic ) Secondary Age.
Fourth Mosaic Day. Permian "1
Third Mosaic Day. Carboniferous Palaeozoic
f Devonian I
First and Second Mosaic J Silurian f Primarv Aee
Days. 1 Cambrian mmary Age.
£ Laurentian J
The reader must not think it amiss, in this distribution of the
Mosaic Days, that four of them are crowded together into one
Geological Age, while each of the other two has an entire Age
assigned to itself. Jf the Days of Creation were indefinite
periods, there is no incongruity in supposing that one may have
corresponded to a longer, another to a shorter interval in the
history of our planet. But, in truth, our scheme of distribution
does not of necessity imply that the Mosaic Days were periods
of unequal length. Geologists do not pretend that there is even
a remote approximation to equality between the several divi-
sions of Geological time. The three great Epochs are distin-
guished from each other by reason of the very marked difference
in the character of their Fossil Remains. And the multiplica-
tion of Periods in each Epoch seems to depend rather upon the
degree of completeness with which the strata of that Age have
been examined, than upon any conjecture as to the probable
length of its duration. Thus, for example, Sir Charles Lyell
thinks that, as far as the present condition of science affords the
means of forming an opinion, almost any one of the Periods in
the Palaeozoic Age was as long as all the Periods of the Tertiary
Age taken together.1
But there is another and a more serious objection against
1 Eltmtnts of Geology, p. 100.
Tlie Mosaic Days. 219
our hypothesis. It has been observed more than once that the
Periods of Geology are out of harmony with the Days of
Genesis even as regards the history of Organic life. According
to the Scripture narrative no Organic life appeared upon the
Earth previous to the Third Day. Now the third Day of Scrip-
turs is supposed to correspond with the Carboniferous Period of
Geology. And yet we have abundant evidence in the Fossil
Remains of the Devonian, the Silurian, and the Cambrian For-
mations, that Organic life, — both plants and animals, — prevailed
upon the Earth for many ages before the Carboniferous Period
began. Nay it is now commonly held, since 'the discovery of
the famous Eozoon Canadense, the oldest known Fossil, that
life already existed during the deposition of the Laurentian
Rocks, the earliest of all the Stratified Formations. Further-
more, in the Mosaic account Fish are represented as having
been created only on the Fifth Day, which we have fitted in
with the Secondary Age of Geology : whereas in the Geological
Record we find Fish as early as the Silurian Period, which is
far back in the Primary Age. These considerations, and divers
others of a like nature, have been regarded by some eminent
writers as altogether fatal to the hypothesis for which we are
contending.
To us, however, it appears that such points of discrepancy
involve no contradiction between the two Records. The Sacred
Writer tells us, no doubt, that, on the Third Day, God created
plants and trees : but he does not say, either expressly or
otherwise, that previous to the Third Day the Earth was
devoid of vegetation. Again, we read, that reptiles, fish, and
birds were created on the Fifth Day. But there is nothing in
the language of the Inspired narrative from which it can be
inferred that these several classes of animal life may not have
been represented, before that time, by many and various species:
though, probably, it was only on the Fifth Day that they were
developed in such vast numbers, and assumed such gigantic
proportions, as to become the most conspicuous objects of crea-
tion.
The first chapter of Genesis is but a brief summary of an in-
conceivably vast series of events. It is nothing more than a
rapid sketch, exhibiting, as it were to the eye, the prominent
features in the history of Creation. Moreover, we should re-
member, that it was written with a specific end in view. The
purpose of the Sacred Writer was plainly to impress upon the
Hebrew people, naturally prone to idolatry, the existence of
One Supreme Being who has made all things. Hence we should
naturally expect that, amid the boundless variety of God's
works, he would make choice of those that -were most calcu-
220 Geology and Revelation.
lated to strike the mind with wonder and awe, "and to bring
home to a rude and uncultivated race of men the Almighty
Power and Supreme Dominion of the Great Creator. Now the
Zoophytes, and Graptolites, and Tribolites, of the Devonian
and Silurian Periods, however curious and interesting they may
be to men of science, would have had but little significance for
the Jewish people. Let us suppose that these more humble
forms of animal life had, in fact, existed during the First and
Second Days of the Mosaic narrative, and where is the wonder
that the Inspired Historian, under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, should pass them by in silence, and choose rather to com-
memorate the more striking and impressive facts, that, at the
bidding of God, Light shone forth from the midst of darkness,
and the blue firmament of Heaven was expanded above the
waste of waters?
We say, then, that events which are simply left unrecorded
by the Sacred Writer are not, on that account untrue i1 that he
describes to us not all the works of Creation, which would have
been an endless task, but only the more conspicuous objects in
each successive stage ; and that he sketches them, most probably,
as they would have appeared to the eye of a human observer, if
a human observer at the time had existed on the Earth. If this
view be admitted, then it is not inconsistent with the Scripture
narrative to suppose that plants may have existed before the
Third Day, and fish before the Fifth. Each Day in its turn
would have been rendered conspicuous to an observing spectator
by those events which are recorded by Moses. But each Day,
too, would have witnessed many other events, unnoticed by
Moses, of which the memorials have been preserved, even to our
time, in the Crust of the Earth.
We should observe, however, that though this scheme of adapting
the periods of Geology to the days of Moses may be defended as a
legitimate hypothesis, it cannot be upheld as an established truth.
The geological records that have hitherto been brought to light
represent but the merest fragment of the Earth's past history. Each
year that passes over our heads is adding largely to the store of
facts already accumulated. And it needs but little reflection to
perceive that an hypothesis may be quite consistent with the
knowledge we possess to-day, and yet may be found altogether
inconsistent with the knowledge we shall possess to-morrow.
We must be content, therefore, to suspend our judgment, and
to await the progress of events. It may be that future discove-
ries shall bring to light new points of harmony between the
Days of Genesis and the Periods of Geology ; it may be they
1 " Aliquid esse a Deo conditum, de quo sileat liber Genesis, nihil repugnat".
— Augustinus, Confess., Lib. xii. cap. xxii.
The Mosaic Days. 221
shall demonstrate that no such harmony exists. For us it is
enough to have shown that this hypothesis is consistent, on the
one hand, with the story of Genesis; on the other, with the
established conclusions of Geology ; and, therefore, that in the
present condition of science it may be adopted as a legitimate
means of reconciling the truths that have been revealed by God
with the truths that have been discovered by the light of rea-
son.
CONCLUSION — We have, then, two distinct systems of inter-
pretation, according to which the vast antiquity of the Earth
asserted by Geology may be fairly brought into harmony with
the history of creation recorded in Scripture. The one allows
an interval of incalculable duration between the creation of the
Heavens and the Earth and the work of the Six Days: the
other supposes each one of these Six Days to have been itself
an indefinite period of time. We cannot, indeed, prove that
either of these two systems is true in point of fact ; but we have
attempted to show that neither is at variance with the language
of the Sacred Text. On the other hand, when we look to the evi-
dence of geological facts, we see no decisive reason for prefer-
ring one to the other. Either mode of interpretation seems in
itself quite sufficient to meet all the present requirements of
Geology ; for, according to either interpretation, the Bible nar-
rative would allow time without limit for the past history of our
Globe; and time without limit is just what Geology demands.
We may [say, then, on this point what Saint Augustine said
long ago, in speaking of the diverse interpretations which the
text of Genesis admits: " Let each one choose according to the
best of his power: only let him not rashly put forward as
known that which is unknown ; and let him not fail to remem-
ber that he is but a man searching as far as may be into the
works of God".1
It must not be supposed that, according to our view, the Sa-
cred Writer, in composing his account of the Creation, had
before his mind those vast geological periods about which we
have said so much in the course of these papers. Such an
opinion is no part of our system. We see no good reason for
believing that the author of Genesis was specially enlightened
from Heaven on the subject of Stratified Rocks and Fossil Re-
mains, of Upheaval and Denudation, of Volcanic Action and
Central Heat. These are matters of Physical, not of Religious
Science. And it seems to be the order of Providence to leave
1 " Eligat quis quod potest : tantum ne aliquid temere atque incognitum pro
cognito asserat ; memineritque se hominem de divinis operibus quantum per-
mittitur quaerere ". — Z>« Genesi, Liber Imperfectus, cap. ix., n. 80
222 Geology and Revelation.
the discovery of such things to the industry and -ingenuity of
man: " Cuncta fecit bona in tempore suo, et mundum tradidit
disputationi eorum'V What we maintain, then, is simply this:
that the Sacred Writer recorded faithfully, in language fitted to
the ideas of his time, that portion of Revelation that was com-
mitted to him; and, in the accomplishment of this task, made
such a choice of words and phrases, under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, to whom all truth is present, as to set forth plainly
those facts that were unfolded to him, without introducing any
error about those facts of which he was ignorant. The language
is the language of men, but the voice that speaks therein is the
voice of God. And thus it comes to pass that this Mosaic
story, when fairly examined according to the ordinary laws of
human speech, is found in every age to accommodate itself,
with quite an unexpected simplicity, to those new and wonder-
ful views of God's manifold powers which each hnman science
in its turn brings to light.
Before taking leave of the subject, we would venture to bring
under the notice of our readers one very obvious reflection,
which is sometimes lost sight of in the heat of controversy. The
Mosaic history of the Creation absolutely stands alone. It has
no rivals, no competitors. Every other attempt that has been
made to explain the origin of the world and of the human
race is refuted by its own intrinsic extravagance and absurdity.
The wisest nations of antiquity failed to discover that great
fundamental truth, which stands out so boldly on the first page
of Genesis, that there is One God who hath made all things.
The philosophers of Chaldsea were familiar with the course of
the Heavens, and could predict the eclipses of the sun and
moon. But the philosophers of Chaldaea could not rise from the
contemplation of creatures to the knowledge of the Creator : the
creatures themselves were the gods that Chaldaea worshipped.
Egypt had greatness of mind to conceive the idea of the
Pyramids, and skill to devise the plan of their construc-
tion, and strength of arm to lift up the huge stones on these
stupendous piles. But Egypt raised up temples to the river
that waters its plain, and offered sacrifice to the reptile that
crawls upon the earth, and the beast that grazes in the field.
In Greece the human mind soared to its highest flight, and
ranged over the widest and most beautiful fields of thought.
Peerless is she among the nations, the mistress of the arts, the
fountain source of refined taste, the storehouse of intellectual
power, the great nurse of human genius. Her schools of phi-
losophy have influenced and guided to a marvellous extent the
thoughts and speculations of all subsequent times, The song
1 Ecchsiastes, iii. 11,
The Mosaic Days. 223
of her immortal bard has kindled the imagination of the poet in
every generation, and enriched his mind with glowing images.
Orators and statesmen still love to copy the lofty sentiments, the
graceful diction, the flowing periods, of her golden eloquence.
And students from every clime stand enraptured before the
beauty and the majesty of her sculptured marble. But Greece,
Imperial Greece, knew not the One God, the Giver of all good
gifts, by whom she had been so highly endowed. She fashioned
for herself gods and goddesses after her own fancy, and portioned
out the universe between them. Jupiter hurled his thunderbolts
from the clouds: Neptune ruled the sea: Pluto swayed the
sceptre of the infernal regions: Minerva was the goddess of
wisdom: Vulcan the god of fire: Apollo the god of music.
Nay, the very infirmities and vices of human nature were person-
ified under the names of divinities, and worshipped in the
Pantheon of the gods. Rome, too, the conqueror of the world,
had its philosophers, and its orators, its poets, and its sculptors,
whose productions still charm and instruct mankind. Yet was
Rome no exception to the common lot of the gentile world. For
Rome, like Greece, had its long array of gods and goddesses,
with their petty jealousies, their vindictive malice, their shame-
less passions. Alone, amidst all the Mythologies and Cosmogo-
nies of ancient nations, the story of the Hebrew Legislator rises
superior to the gross and silly speculations of mortal men. It
alone proclaims to mankind what Philosophy and Science, when
left to themselves, have never been able to teach, that, In the
beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth ; that the
plants, and the animals, the ocean, and the elements, the sun,
and moon, and stars, man himself, and all that delights the eye,
and charms the ear, and fills the mind, are His creatures ; and
that besides Him there is no other God. Away, then, with the
idea that this Sacred Narrative, stamped as it plainly is with
the imprint of its Divine Author, should ever be found at
variance with the truths of science, — or rather, we should say,
with those scanty fragments of truth, those crumbs of know-
ledge, falling from the table of our Heavenly Father, which it is
given to man here below to gather up with laborious care, and
which, however they may excite his longings, cannot satisfy
his hunger.
Here, for the present, we mean to bring to a close this series
of papers on Geology and Revelation. At some future time,
perhaps, if our opportunities permit, we may return to the
subject, and invite the attention of our readers to the second
branch of this great controversy, the Antiquity of Man,
224
FRAGMENTS FROM THE EARLY IRISH CHURCH.
1. Prayer of St. Molaissi, Abbot of Devenish. — The follow-
ing short poem of St. Molaissi is preserved in the ancient Liber
Hymnorum, a MS. of the tenth century. ^ There are three
famous saints of the name Molaissi, in the Irish calendars, viz.,
St. Molaissi, son of Cairill, Abbot and Bishop of Leighlin, whose
feast day is the 18th of April; St. Molaissi, son of Dealan,
Abbot of Inishmurray, on 12th August; and St. Molaissi, son of
Nadfraich, Abbot of Daimhinis, on the 12th of September. The
Irish poem which we now publish has merely the title " Moelisa
dixit", i.e., Molaissi composed this poem. But as it is attached
to a Latin hymn which bears the title " Incipit imnus Lasriain,
id est, Molasse Daminnse" — " Here begins the hymn of Laserian,
i.e., Molaissi of Devenish", all doubt is removed as to its author.
St. Molaissi of Devenish flourished in the sixth century : and
his death is registered in the Chronicon Scotorum, in 564:
" Molaise of Daimhinis quievit":1 in the Annals of Ulster and of
the Four Masters the entry is made under the year 563. He
founded a famous church and monastery in the island of Daimh-
inis, i.e., " Bovium insula", now Devenish in Loch Erne, not
far from the present town of Enniskillen. A beautiful round
tower and the ruins of the old monastery still adorn the island
(Petrie's Round Towers, pp. 355, 395).
In the Felire of St. .2Engus the Culdee, the name of St. Mo-
laissi is commemorated with other saints on the 12th of Septem-
ber as follows:
CeitebAij\ feil nAiVbe
it> fojAch
l,Aif pen
" Celebrate the festival of Ailbhe
With Fedh, the bright, protecting,
With the festival of Laisren the chosen,
From Daiminis of the assemblies".2
A gloss also is added to the original text, and from it we learn
that St. Molaissi was only in his thirtieth year when he attained
his crown, and that he himself described his monastery in the
following verse :
1 Chron. Scotorum, trans, and edit, by W. M. Hennessy, Esq., for the Master
of the Rolls. London, 1866, page 57.
8 Leabhar Breac, fol. 48, a.
Fragments from the Early Irish Church. 225
och tech An A
tin Aim choiucent) t>o
T)omnAf -oiler t)e
" A happy land we have found,
A broad lake in Sliabh Achad,
A common resort for the Gaels,
The beloved abode of God the Father".
In the curious and very ancient Irish tale entitled " The
Courtship of Bee Fola", there is a passage relative to our saint
which illustrates the customs of our island in those early times.
Four chieftains had challenged their rivals to meet them in
deadly strife in the island of Daimhinis. On the appointed day
they proceeded thither in their richest attire. Seven of the
combatants were soon numbered among the dead, and the only
surviving one was severely wounded. The bodies of the slain
were interred by St. Molaissi, and he sent four of his religious
to the monarch Diarmaid, to know what was his pleasure re-
garding their weapons and rich ornaments. It was on a Sunday
that these messengers reached the monarch's abode, and it being
unlawful for the clergy to travel about on the Lord's day, it is
added that Diarmaid " drew his cloak over his head that he
might not see the strangers". The religious, however, told him
that it was "by order of their superior and not for their own
pleasure" that they had undertaken this journey: and having
detailed the circumstances of the combat, they thus continued :
" The chieftains left behind them as much gold and silver as two
men could carry, i.e., of the gold and silver that was on their
garments and on their necks, and on their shields, and on their
spears, and on their swords and on their hands, and on their
tunics. We have come to know what portion of this booty you
desire". The king replied: " That which God has sent to Mo-
laissi, I shall not take from him : let him make his reliquaries of
it": and the narrative adds: " This indeed was verified, for with
that silver and gold, the reliquaries of Molaissi were ornamented,
viz., his shrine, and his ministir? and his crozier".4
3 O'Donovan in his Ir. Gr., pag. 438, explains ministir as indicating " a por-
table relic". It seems to me to be derived from the Latin word Ministerium,
which often occurs in medieval writings, and which is explained by Du Cange
as "mensulam juxtaaltare, in qua reponuntnr vasa ad sacrificium idonea".
Our venerable Irish Abbot Dungal, in 814, when sending some silver to a
brother abbot in France, thus explains the purposes for which he wished it to be
employed: "Volo rogare, si vobis facile est ut iubeatis uni bono et perito de
vestris fabricare illud et facere inde ministerium, calicem et patenam" (Jaffa's
Monumenta Carolina. Berlin, 1867, pag. 436). It would thus be something like
a portable safe for containing the sacred vessels, and perhaps the Gospels or
Lectionary for the service of the altar.
4 Copies of this tale are preserved in MS. H. 2. 16, and H. 3. 18 (T. C. D.),
and in the O'Curry MSS. Uatholic University.
VOL. V, 15
22G Fragments from the Early Irish Church.
St Cuimin of Connof flourished, about a hundred years later
and in his poem on the « Characteristic virtues of the Irish
Saints1', he thus speaks of Saint Molaissi:
" Molaissi, of the lake, loved
To live in a cell of hard stone :
A strangers' home for the men of Erin, w
Without refusal, without a sign of inhospitahty .
Many other particulars connected with St. Molassai may be
found in Lanigan, vol. ii. pag. 218. We now present to our
readers the sweet prayer which he composed.
POEM OF MOLAISSI.
1n Spi^uc tloeb itnmurm,
Irmurm octif octmn
1n Spi|\tju tloeb cVmcurm
T^ec A Ch]Aifc co h-optmn.
1n Spi^uc Tloeb -OAiuqieb
if AH nAttttiA
co otrnu
co rut utcc
A 1-pu -pormoebA
" May the Holy Spirit be around us
Be in us and be with us :
May the Holy Spirit come to us,
O Christ, forthwith.
" The Holy Spirit, to abide in
Our bodies and our souls,
To protect us unto Jerusalem
From dangers, from diseases,
" From demons, from sins,
From hell with all its evils:
O Jesus, may thy Spirit
Sanctify us, save us".
2. Hymn to St. Molaissi. — The following Latin hymn, to
which reference has already been made in the preceding re-
marks, and which was composed in honour of the Saint of
whom we have been speaking, is also preserved in the Liber
Hymnorum (fol. SI, 6. a.). It was probably taken from an
ancient office of the Saint, from which another passage is given
in a marginal note of the Martyrology of Donegal, on 12th Sep-
Fragments from the Early Irish Church. 227
tember: " Antiphona Communis. Vir Dei dum verbum vitae
populo praedicaret, visus est a terra sublimari et in aere pen-
dere, et mirati sunt universi. Adesto nobis, quaesumus Domine,
ut Beati Lasreani Confessoris tui Abbatis interventu ab omni
inquinatione mundemur corporis et mentis, per Xtum. D. N.".
In the following hymn we retain the corrupt spelling of the
original text, so characteristic of the early Latin monuments of
our Church: —
" Incipit imnus Lasriani .i. Molasse Daminnse.
" Abbas probatus omnino
Benedictus a Domino
Cum caritatis fructibus
Doctor Ecclesiasticus.
Electus Dei anthleta
Fidelis sine macula
Gregis pastor subagrinua
Humilis supplex submisus.
Jejunus, largisimus
Kastus cum rectis moribus
Lucerna erat in tota
Macculasrius Hibernia.
Nadfraich et sanctus films,1
Optimus Dei films
Probatus, sapiens, peritus,
Quern coronavit Dominus.
Requiescit post obitum
Securus in perpetuum
Tenebrarum rectoribus
Victis atque principibus.
Christo cum suis omnibus
Ymnum canit celestibus,
Zelus in quo fuit mirus
Dei prae participibus
Per merita Macculasri summi sacerdotis,
Adjuva nos, Christe, Salvator mundi qui regnas.
3. Sermon on St. Brigid. — As the present number of the
Irish EC. Record will be published on the feast day, and under
the auspices of our great national virgin patroness, St. Brigid,
we cannot conclude our present extracts from the monuments
of the early Irish Church without adding the opening passages
1 St. Molalssi of Devenish was the son of Natfraich, of the race of
Irial son of Connall Cearnaigh, arid seventh in descent from Crunn Badhraige,
son of Eochaidh Cobha, son of Fiacha Araidhe, who died in A.D. 236. HencQ
it is that he is called in the text the holy son of Nddfraich.
15 a
228 Fragments from the Early Irish Church.
of a very ancient sermon in her praise which is preserved in
the Leabhar Breac, R.I. A. It is written partly in Latin and
partly in Irish : we will merely translate the Irish portions of the
text, allowing the Latin to remain as in the original : —
** Hi sunt qui sequuntur Agnum, quoqunque ierit ", i.e., " these
are they who follow the Spotless Lamb in whatsoever path He
goeth. It was John, the son of Zebedee, the bosom companion
of Jesus, and the representative of virginity, that wrote these
words, and he left them as a memorial to the Christian Church,
and as a record of the rewards and emoluments which God has
prepared for the third order of the Church, i.e., the order of
virginity: they shall follow the Spotless Lamb. Jnde Johannes
hie ait : hii sunt qui sequuntur Agnum. And now these words
agree with John when he said previously in his Scripture:
" Nemo poterat dicere canticum nisi ilia centum quadraginta qua-
tuor milia qui empti sunt de terra, i.e.,fortitudinem et virtutem
accipiunt pro terrenis". None in the world can offer meet
praise and befitting canticles to the Lord but those who in both
churches (i.e., 6n earth as in heaven) have been preserved in
chastity and virginity, purchased with the price of the blood of
Christ : virgines enim sunt. And it is in consequence of these
words that John says: " Hii sunt qui sequuntur Agnum quoqun-
que ierit, i,e., virgines tertii gradus Ecclesiae quibus irigesimus et
sexagesimus et centesimus fructus detur, testante Johanne et dicente:
Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit peccata mundi. Agnus autem
propter innocentiam dictus est. Sequuntur Agnum: quid vero
est sequi Christum nisi imitari eumutPetrus ait: sequimini ves-
tigia ejus : i.e., sequimini eum virginitate cordis et carnis, quia
caro utique agni virgo est. Nihil vero prodest carnem habere
virginem si mente quis nupserit. It profits not to be a virgin in
the flesh for him who is defiled in mind. Virginitas enim
carnis est corpus intactum libidine : virginitas vero animae fides
incorrupta. Jactantia autem virginitatem perdit : virgines enim
de suis mentis gloriantes hypocritae comprobantur Hoc enim est
JLvangelio, non habere virgines oleum in vassis suis, non servare,
intra conscientiam, bonioperis testimonium, sed in facie qloriam
apud homines. For what the Gospel says is, that the virgins
who possess not oil m their vessels are the virgins who preserve
not the testimony of the Lord, but vainglory before men. Haec
est falsa castitas Id est virginitas: quicumque imitatur eum,
quomam tile Films Dei est, in quantum imitandum: quibus
Apostolusait: obsecro vos fratres utexhibeatis corpora vestrahos-
tiam vivam sanctam, Veteris et Novi Testamenti, placentem Deo.
Now, the illustrious Patriarchs fulfilled the testimony of virgi-
nity, prefiguring Christ. The Apostles, too, and the disciples
of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, fulfilled it. The
The Breaking Net, 22f)
martyrs and the friends of the Lord, the saints and the holy
virgins of the world, in like manner ; and thus also it was
fulfilled by the illustrious and venerable virgin for whom there
is joy and commemoration on the return of this season i e.,
Sancta Virgo Dei, Brigida. The time now in which the
Christians- celebrate the joyous feast of holy Brigid, is on the
Kalends of February, as regards the solar month, °and it is on
this day of the week in the year in which we now are "
(Leabhar Breac, fol. 115.)
THE BREAKING NET.
FOUR months ago the Dean of Cork, now Bishop of Peter-
borough, inaugurated the session of the Church Congress in
Dublin with a remarkable sermon which has since been pub-
lished in an authorized form under the attractive title, The
Breaking Net. Taking for his text the words of St. Luke,
chap. v. ver. 7, the orator described the Apostolic net of the
sea of Galilee as presenting an analogy with the Established
Church of this country ; and as the apostles cried out for help
to their companions in another boat, so now the ministers of
the Established Church cry out to their brethren of the sister
isle, inviting them to cross the boisterous channel to hold their
congress in our capital, and thus aid the Irish Church in her
distress.
It is not our intention to examine in detail the many remark-
able statements which are made by the Bishop of Peterborough ;
we even wish to set aside the general question, which has already
been fully discussed ; and our remarks shall solely be directed
to a few leading subjects which form as if the groundwork of
his discourse.
1. In the first place, however, we must remark that, accord-
ing to some journals, which speak in an authoritative tone, it
was not so much the Irish Protestant Church that clamoured to
the other boat, but it was rather the fishermen from beyond the
channel who sought on this occasion to intrude themselves into
the safe-sailing vessel of the Irish Church. Thus the Christian
Examiner for November (pag. 115) wrote: " The Congress has
assembled in Dublin, and is now over. Our eyes were in anti-
cipation directed to it while it was yet to come, and we may
well look back upon it now that it is past. We do so with much
230 We Breaking Net.
gratitude to a gracious Providence, and with a happy feeling
that it has ended so well. Some of the journals that took notice
of it speak of the kindness with which so many of the leading
members of the English branch of the United Church accepted
the invitation of the Irish branch to come over in such numbers.
This is a mistake. The Irish branch did not invite the mem-
bers of the Congress to cross the channel to visit them, but when
the proposal came from England to hold the meeting of 1868
in Dublin, it was thought by those that were obliged to give an
answer, that it would be very impolitic and wrong to refuse to
receive them. There were, no doubt, fears and apprehensions on
the part of the Irish branch of the Church, as there were pro-
bably hopes and expectations on the part of the good English-
men that made the proposal The party that had the
sway in the former meetings of the Congress hoped that they
would bring their prestige with them, and be able to communi-
cate some of that High-Churchism which they considered defi-
cient in Ireland".
2. But setting all this aside, and viewing the matter as pro-
posed to us by Dr. Magee, let us inquire does any analogy
exist between the Gospel miracle and the present condition of
the Established Church in this kingdom ?
The apostles had toiled the whole night long, and yet, as
morning dawned, their nets were empty, and at length, dis-
heartened at their ill-success, they cried out: " We have toiled
all night, and have caught nothing". So far the ministers of the
Established Church are found to present a parallel with the
apostolic labourers. For three hundred years they have spread
their nets in this island and laboured to bring the children of
St. Patrick within the Protestant fold: however, they have
toiled in vain, and their nets are still empty. This is the only
analogy with the Protestant Church that can be found in the
Gospel miracle.
The apostles, finding their net empty, turn to their Divine
Master, and when, in obedience to His command, they again
cast their nets into the sea, His blessing rewards their toil. Is
it to the divine source of truth and Christian life that the Pro-
testant Church in this country addresses its appeal that its nets
may be filled ? Certainly not : and none feel more keenly than
the dignitaries of the Established Church how preposterous such
an appeal would be. It was not as a work of God that their
mission was begun: their errand was human, not divine: and
therefore it is not to the blessing of heaven, but to earthly
agency, that they now instinctively turn for support.
When the Apostles' net began to yield, it was in consequence
of the abundant draught of fishes that at length rewarded their
The Breaking Net. 231
toil. Is there here any point of analogy with the actual condition
of the Established Church? The cry indeed has gone forth
that the nets are breaking. But why do they thus break ? Is
it from the miraculous spiritual draught with which the toil of
the Protestant ministers has at length been blessed? Surely,
no one in his senses will say that it is so. If any one for the
past fancied that such was the case, the census of 1861, and the
Report of the Royal Commissioners last year, must have dis-
sipated his illusion. For three hundred years the Established
Church in this kingdom has been aided by all the agencies that
human ingenuity could devise. Its clergy have had all the
wealth and power of a great nation at their command. Its
archbishops and bishops guided the legislation of the kingdom ;
they sat as privy councillors in Dublin Castle, to advise the
viceroy as to the course he should pursue; they often, too,
discharged viceregal functions, and had the whole power of
the kingdom in their hands as lords justices of Ireland. Thus,
they had the sword of persecution and the wand of authority to
force the children of St. Patrick within the pale of the Anglican
Church. And, nevertheless, at the present day, as three hun-
dred years ago, the Protestant dignitaries have to raise the cry
that their fold is empty, and that no spiritual fruit rewards
their toil. Thus, if their net is breaking, it is through the
general law of all earthly things. In fact, the net is worn out, and
as its masters have at length discovered that it is both hopeless
and impolitic to seek to rob the country of its ancient creed,
they seem resolved to leave the net to its fate, and no longer to
waste the national resources in trying to keep it in repair.
3. But then Dr. Magee assures us that the Church of Ire-
land is in reality all one with the Church of England, and
hence, in the abandonment of the Irish Establishment, he sees
set forth the ruin of Protestantism in the sister isle.
This unity of the Protestant churches is, however, nothing
more than a feverish dream of the champions of the Established
Church in this country. Let Dr. Magee .inform us when were
the Protestant bishops of the Irish Church united to the synods
of England; when were her clergy summoned to English con-
vocations. If such a unity exists, how does it happen that the
Church in Ireland is not governed by the law that holds in
England? and how is it that in the appointment of bishops the
ceremony of a conge cCelire will not be tolerated in this country,
though it is the rule in the English Church?
For more than fifty years the Established Church in Ireland
had not even the same articles of belief as the English Church;
and when at length these articles were adopted by the Irish
bishops, they were accepted as a political necessity, dictated by
232 The Breaking Net,
the viceroy of the day, and not as required by any supposed
unity of both Churches. The letters of the viceroy, Lord
Stratford, afford abundant evidence on this head. He had
ordered a convocation of the clergy to meet simultaneously
with the parliament in 1634, and in proposing to them the
adoption of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England,
he arranged with Primate Usher that no mention whatever
should be made of the articles solemnly adopted by the Irish
clergy in 1615. For some time he paid but little attention to
the labours of convocation ; but having at length settled to his
satisfaction the secular matters of parliament, he resolved to
apply himself in earnest to attain his ecclesiastical ends. He
thus details the result in his letter to Archbishop Laud, on 16th
December, 1634:—
" Having informed myself of the state of affairs, I found that
the lower House of Convocation had appointed a select committee
to consider the canons of the Church of England ; that they
proceeded in the examination without conferring at all with
their bishops ; that they had gone through the Book of Canons,
and noted in the margin such as they allowed, with an A, and
on others they had entered a />, which stood for Deliberandum;
that into the fifth article they had brought the Articles of Ire-
land, to be allowed and received under pain of excommunica-
tion ; and that they had drawn up their canons into a body, and
were ready that afternoon to make report in the convocation. I
instantly sent for Dean Andrews, that reverend clerk, who sat,
forsooth, in the chair at this committee, requiring him to bring
along with him the foresaid Book of Canons so noted on the
margin, together with the draft he was to present that afternoon
to the house. This he obeyed, and herewith I send your Grace
both the one and the other. When I came to open the book,
and run over their Deliberandums in the margin, I confess I
was not so much moved since I came into Ireland. I told him
that it was certainly not a Dean of Limerick but an Ananias
that had sat in the chair of that committee. However, sure I
was that Ananias had been there in spirit, if not in body, with
all the fraternities and conventicles of Amsterdam ; that I was
ashamed and scandalized with it above measure. I therefore
said that he should leave the book and draft with me, and that
I did command him upon his allegiance he should report nothing
to the House from that committee till he heard again from me.
" Being thus mettled, I gave present direction for a meeting,
and I named the Primate, the Bishops of Meath, Kilmore,
Raphoe, and Derry, together with Dean Lesley, the prolocutor,
and all those who had been of the committee, to be with me the
next morning. Then I publicly told them how unlike clergy-
The Breaking Net, 233
men, that owed canonical obedience to their superiors,' they had
proceeded in their committee ; how unheard a part it was for a
few petty clerks to presume to make articles of faith without the
privity or consent of state or bishops; what a spirit of Brownism
and contradiction I observed in their Deliberandums, as if in-
deed they purposed at once to take away all government and
order from the Church, and leave every man to choose his own
high place where he liked best. But these heady and arrogant
courses, they must know, I was not to endure, nor, if they were
disposed to be frantick in this dead and cold season of the year,
would I suffer them either to be mad in the convocation or in
their pulpits".
He then states the'instructions he gave the assembled minis-
ters, and how he requested the Primate to draw np a formula
for adopting the English articles, which might be submitted to
convocation : —
" The Primate", he thus continues, " accordingly framed a
canon, which I not so well approving, drew up one myself, and
sent it to my lord. His Grace came instantly unto me, and
told me he feared the canon would never pass in such form as I
had made it, but he was hopeful, as he had drawn it, it might,
and besought me, therefore, to think a little better of it. But I
confess, having taken a little jealousy that his proceedings were
not open and free to those ends, I had my eye upon it ; it was
too late now either to persuade or affright me. I told his lord-
ship I was resolved to put it to them in those very words, and
was most confident there were not six in the houses that would
refuse them . . . Without any delay, then, I wrote a letter
to Dean Lesley, with the canon inclosed, which accordingly
that afternoon was unanimously voted, first with the bishops,
and then by the rest of the clergy, excepting one man".
When conformity, even in the articles of belief, was thus
forced upon the Irish Church, we would like to know in what
sense Dr. Magee hazards the assertion in his sermon that the two
Churches are "joined together in a union which the state never
made, and which the state can never therefore take away1'.
Notwithstanding the act of 1634, a difficulty still remained.
When adopting the English Articles no mention had been made
of a repeal of the earlier Irish Articles. Nay, more, this was an
intentional omission, as results from Lord Strafford's letters. The
* Letters and Despatches of Thomas Earl of Strqffbrd, yol. i. p. 344. He
characteristically adds: — "If your lordship thinks Dean Andrews hath
been to blame, and that you would chastise him for it, make him bishop of
Ferns and Leighlin, to have it without any other commendum than as the
last bishop had, and then I assure you he shall leave better behind him than
will be recompensed out of that bishoprick, which is one of the meanest of the
whole kingdom".
234 "She Breaking Net.
question, therefore, now arose : were the clergy to be required
to subscribe as heretofore the contradictory old and new articles,
or were they to be left at liberty as to which they might prefer?
Primate Usher, and many of the other bishops, as a matter of
fact, required from their clergy for some years subscription to
both sets of articles (Mant, Hist, of the Irish Ch., vol. i. p.
494) ; even Dr. Smith, in his Life of Usher, admits this fact,
though he adds: "It must seem highly ridiculous, not to say
scandalous, that two confessions, disagreeing in various doc-
trines of theology, should be retained in the same Church" ;
and yet, from the days of Usher to our own time, no further
steps have been taken to abrogate the Irish Reformed Articles
of 1615.
Towards the close of the last century 'an effort was made to
sanction by an act of the legislature at least an outward union
between the two churches: and when the resolutions on the
union of Ireland with England were discussed in March, 1800,
a clause was proposed to the effect that, thenceforward the
Churches of England and Ireland should be united into one
Church, and that all the prelates and other clergy of Ireland
should be entitled to sit in convocation of the United Church.
The clause, after some alterations, was indeed adopted by the
Irish parliament : however, it was expunged from the act by the
English legislature. The fact of proposing such a clause in
1800 proves that up to that time the Churches of England and
Ireland were not regarded as one Church; and the rejection of
that clause, which has never since been sanctioned by parlia-
ment, proves still more clearly that no unity such as that pre-
tended by the eloquent Dean at present exists between the two
Churches.
4. This leads us to consider another argument which has
been repeatedly advanced in support of the Protestant Church
in this country. In the Act of Union, it is said, the mainte-
nance of the Protestant Church was expressly guaranteed ; and
thus the^very existence of the united legislature must be im-
perilled if the present agitation against the Established Church
be allowed to have its course. To this we reply, that no doubt
the maintenance of the Protestant Church was held out by the
government of the day, as a bribe to the then rampant ascen-
dancy faction, to secure its aid in annihilating the legislative in-
dependence of this country. But the same power which, to
attain its ends, could introduce such an unjust clause into the
Act of Union, may surely be allowed to repeal that clause when
it is found to mar and counteract the wise purposes of the pre-
sent government. And see how, in the ways of Providence,
guilt prepares its own chastisement. Humanly speaking, it is
T/ie Breaking Net. 235
precisely to the Act of Union and to the agitation in the sister
isle that we must for ever be indebted for the disendowment and
disestablishment of the Protestant Church in this country !
5. There is only one reflection more which, for the present,
we wish to make on the discourse of the Bishop of Peterborough.
He dwells at considerable length on the important and vital prin-
ciple of union between Church and state, which he supposes to be at
stake in the question of the Established Church. We beg to assure
his lordship that that great principle is nowise imperilled by the
present agitation. For three hundred years Protestantism linked
itself with the Irish government, not in the exercise of a Chris-
tianizing influence, but to avail itself of the sword of power to
persecute the people of Ireland. The public conscience has
been outraged instead of being hallowed by that alliance, and
now that an era of justice seems to dawn upon this country, it
is but right that the unholy alliance should be severed for ever.
An illustration has been used by a distinguished member of the
present government, and we cannot better express our ideas on
the subject than by using his words:
" In its own country the bee is one of the most estimable of
animals. It spends its whole time in most diligently providing
for its wants during the fine season of the year. It is an inoffen-
sive, prudent, diligent animal, whose operations we all watch
with the greatest interest. But bees were transplanted to the
West Indies, and they found themselves in a climate where
labour was utterly unnecessary, where they had nothing to do,
because all the year round they had a perpetual summer, and
there were flowers and food for them without exertion. They
lost entirely their industrious habits ; they became utterly de-
bauched, and spent their whole time travelling about sugar
houses, pillaging sugar, and stinging the blacks. Now that is
exactly, I am sorry to say, what has been done by the Estab-
lished Church in Ireland ; it has pillaged the sugar, and stung
not the blacks but the native Irish".
236
CORRESPONDENCE.
Letter of the Most Rev. Dr. Donnelly, Bishop of Clogher, to the
Editors of the Irish, Ecclesiastical Record.
[We are deeply grateful to his Lordship the Bishop of Clogher
for the valuable letter with which he has honoured us, and we
beg to assure him that we accept with pleasure the correction
with which he has so kindly favoured us.]
" Monaghan, January 16, '69".
" DEAR REV. SIB, — I write to offer my heartiest thanks for
the place you have given in the Record of this month to the
hymn in praise of my holy predecessor, St. Macartin. That
relic of antiquity is now safe from the possibility of extinction ;
the future chronicler will find it in the pages of the Record.
There is but one circumstance in the matter that gives me pain
or disappointment. Any person reading your introductory re-
marks would infer that the notorious Miler Magrath had apos-
tatized whilst Bishop of Clogher; the truth being, that this
unhappy man was appointed Bishop of Clogher by the govern-
ment of Elizabeth, and after his apostacy. — (See Ware, Bishops
of Clogher , and other ecclesiastical historians.) — It is our proud
and grateful reflection that no bishop of this ancient see has
ever fallen away from the faith.
" You will not wonder that I should feel sensitive about the
fair fame of Clogher, and of the long roll of her prelates ; and I
trust that, in the next number of the Record, you will place
this matter beyond the reach of misapprehension.
" I remain, dear Rev. Sir, very faithfully yours,
^ " JAMES DONNELLY.
" To the Editor of the
Ecclesiastical Record ".
237
DOCUMENTS.
Rescript of the Sacred Congregation, granting new Indulgence*
to the " Catholic Association of St. Francis de Sales".
The " Catholic Association of St. Francis de Sales" was
founded in 1855, principally through the exertions of Mon-
seigneur Mermillod, now coadjutor bishop of Geneva. It rapidly
spread through France and Switzerland, and some branch socie-
ties were also founded in Italy and Belgium. It proposed to
itself: 1st, the erection of schools and other Catholic institu-
tions for the poor; 2nd, the gratuitous diffusion of good books;
3rd, the hojding of missions and spiritual retreats in the most
destitute districts; 4th, the ornamentation of poor churches and
altars ; 5th, the encouragement and maintenance of young men
who aspire to the ecclesiastical state.
Several indulgences have already been granted by the Holy
See to reward the pious exertions of the members of this admi-
rable Association. We insert to-day the last Rescript granting
such indulgences, and with it we give the petition which was pre-
sented to the Holy Father soliciting such a favour, as it details
the whole plan and organisation of the " Association" and affords
full particulars to any of the clergy who may wish to erect
a Branch- Association in their districts.
BEATISSIME PATER,
Ad pedes S. V. provoluti Praeses necnon Praesidi assidentes
Associationis Catholicae S. Francisci Salesii suppliciter expo-
nunt : Anno Domini 1855 et sequent! semel atque iterum
Sanctitas Vestra Rev. Domini Mermillod primum (qui nunc
Episcopus auxiliaris Genevensis) deinde R. P. D. Alzon
Augustinorum Assumptions Praesidi ac Nemosensi Vicario
generali) dicere dignata est id a se valde exoptari ut catholicis
in gentibus pia exurgeret precum atque eleemosynarum
societas, unde Christianorum fides refoveretur, non parvum
diligenti clero accresceret auxilium, coniurati Ecclesiae hpstes
facilius expugnarentur, sicque pura et integra ubique inter
Fideles remaneret Catholica Fides. Addebat autem Sanctitas
Vestra talem sibi videri Consociationem, veluti " quandam
Fidei propagationem ad intra " ita ut qui inter infi deles atque
haereticos Fidem projpagandam curant, eamdem servandam
tuendamque suscipiant inter fideles.
Ex quo cordis Vestri desiderio Sanctissime Pater exordium
sumpsit, benedicente Domino, Associatio pia S. Francisci Salesii
238
Documents.
Nemosi priraum anno 1855, deinde bienmo post Lutetiae Pari-
siorum ubi ampliori fundamento stabilita mvalescit in dies ao
summa ope nititur ut Fidem servant! ac tuenti Clero multifariam
multisque modis praesto sit.
Et quidem 1° Catholicas scholas, atque Instituta pia, quae
parvulie vere sanctificandis consulant, quaraplurima condit, auget,
vel adiuvat.
2° Libros bonos eosderaque ad vulgarem Populorum sensum
accommodatos nulla mercede dispensat, sicque honesta quaeque
legend! raorem inducit.
3° Verbum Dei praedicandum curat^ turn ^ ruricolis, turn
suburbiis, largiendo scilicet unde exercitia spiritualia fiant vel
Missiones.
4° Si quae sint ecclesiae adeo inopes ut nequeant cultum
Deo, prout decet, exhibere, pecunia adiuvat.
5° Fovet denique, quantum in se est, atque adiuvat quotquot
ad statum ecclesiasticum vocati habentur.
At vero in primis sibi tenendura esse statuit praedicta Asso-
ciatio, ne quid unquam agatur nisi benedicente ac dirigente
Ordinario, cui soli de spiritualibus oviurn necessitatibus iudicare
competit animasque ex officio custodire; atque ita quidquid
minus prudens excogitaret zelus, facillime praecavetur.
Huius autem Associationis constitutio simplicissima haec
est: Concilium primarium, nunc Lutetiae residens, epistolarum
consuetudinem habet in unaquaque Dioecesi cum designate
quodam ab Antistite, rectore. Cuius opera, sicut quaecumque
postulantur a Dioecesi, Concilio primario innotescant, ita et omnes
eiusdem Concilii elemosynae per totam Dioecesim diffunduntur.
Vicerectores autem Dioecesani et collectarii denos constituunt
sodales a quibus duodeni quotannis asses solvendi sunt, haud
secus ac fieri solet in societatibus quae Propagatio Fidei ac S.
Infantia nuncupantur.
Quibus Regnum Christi latissime diffundentibus nedum
noceat S. Francisci Salesii Associatio, e contra veluti comple-
mentum accedit atque adiutrix eximia. Quo etenim purior
Fides, ac validior in catholicis gentibus vigebit, eo maiori studio
eandem quisque Fidem curabit propagandam; quod autem
minime fit, ubi vel evanuit Fides vel labatur.
Decimus hie annus est ex quo dictam Societatem omnes
fere Galliarum Antistites ac satis multi in Italia, Siciliaque ap-
probatam canonice erexerunt. Eamdem nuper erexerunt , vel
erecturi sunt nonnulli apud Helvetios ac Belgas. A mense autem
Maio Anni 1857 quo, auspice Beatissima Virgine, feliciter
Lutetiae exorta est usque ad eundem elabentis anni mensem
iam millies mille circiter francos argenteos exceptos distribuit.
Quibuscumque in regnis praedicta constituitur Societas,
Documents. 239
Concilium generale, quod ex clericis laicisque Ecclesiae ac S.
Sedi addictimis constat, epistolarum commercium frequentat
cum primario Parisiensi Concilio, eo dumtaxat fine, ut sal vis
ubique Societatis statutis, quae S. Sedis auctoritate sunt compra-
bata, turn accepti expensique, turn rerum a Sodalibus gestarum
diligens ratio quotannis referatur.
Optimum illud incoeptum iam a principio benigne fovere
atque ad ampliora incitare S. V. dignata est, turn epistola sui a
latinis Secretarii, turn Apostolico Brevi dato die 13 Dec. anno
1859 quo Sodales amplissimis indulgentiarum muneribus simul
cum Apostolica benedictione donabantur. Quern postea praestan-
tissimum iam caelestium gratiarum thesaurum S. V> augere
adhuc ac benignissime amplificare voluit.
Id demum pro certo habemus, Sanctissime Pater, fore ut prae-
dicta piorum Fidelium Societas, si tamen iterata eaque solemniori
Sedis Apostolicae comprobatione gauderet, tantum continuo
proficeret, ut iam maxime valeret ad refocillandam Fidelium
pietatem ac fidem, atque ita, cum universe iam clero rediret
animus, multo maiori impetu atque efficacius pugnaretur turn
contra incredulos, liberosque muratorios, turn contra haereticos,
ac ceteros quosque Ecclesiae hostes. Ad hoc, redeundi ad eccle-
siam via fortasse pararetur non paucis haereticis, rationalistis,
atque indifferentibus, qui vel dubii taedio misere laborant, vel
iam sitiunt veritatem.
Igitur Beatitudinem Vestram Praeses ac Praesidi assidentes
oratores orant ut caelestibus Indulgentiarum muneribus, quibus
iam gaudent, denuo confirmatos primo Associationem catholicam
S. Francisci Salesii de Apostolica benignitate ditare dignetur
erectione canonica; deinde ut ad frequentiorem Eucharistiae usum
magis ac magis incitentur Sodales, misericorditer in Domino
concedere dignetur Plenariam omnium suorum peccatorum
Indulgentiam ac remissionem, eamque singulis hebdomadis
lucrandam ab omnibus qui vere poenitentes et confessi Sanctissi-
murn Eucharistiae Sacramentum sumpserint. Pro qua gratia, etc.
Rescriptum.
Sanctissimus Dominus Noster Pius PP. IX. in Audientia
habita ab infrascripto Card. Praef. S. Congregationis Indulg.
et SS. Reliq. die 10 Martii 1868 probe noscens quantum utili-
tatis ex praefata Pia Unione a S. Francisco Salesio nuncupata
in populum christianum promanare possit, earn, eiusque finem,
seu scopum ad quern tendit, amplissimis verbis commendavit,
quin tamen aliquid auctoritati Sacrorum Antistitum locorum,
praesertim pro illius canonica erectione in propria cuiusque
Dioecesi facienda, detractum intelligatur. Confidit vero dictae
240 Documents.
Piae Unionis Sodales pro eo, quo flagrare debent, religionis
zelo, et charitatis studio in dies magis magisque curaturos, ut
intentum finern ad Dei gloriam et Christi fidelium aedificationem
consequantur. Ut autem Sodales ipsi ad frequentiorem Sacra-
mentorum usum excitentur, Sanctitas Sua, praeter indulgentias
ab Apostolica Sede iam obtentas,1 benigne eis in perpetuum con-
cessit ut Indulgentiam plenariam etiam Defunctis applicabilem
bis in mense lucrari valeant, dummodo pro unaquaque vice vere
poenitentes, confessi et S. Communione refecti aliquam ecclesiam
devote visitaverint, ibique per aliquod temporis spatium pro
haeresum extirpatione, fidei propagatione, ac S. R, E. exalta-
tione et felici statu pias ad Deum preces effuderint. Praesenti
absque ulla brevis expeditione valituro. Datum Romae ex
Seer, eiusdem S. Congregationis.
Die 10 Martii 1868.
A. Card. BIZZARBI Praefectus
A. Colombo Seer.
1 The Indulgence enjoyed by the Associates are: a Plenary Indulgence (sub-
ject to the usual conditions), on the day of their aggregation, and also on the
29th of January, the 29th of June, and 8th December ; a like Plenary Indul-
gence at the moment of death : a Partial Indulgence of sixty days for every
good work that is performed.
\_NEW SERIES^
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
MARCH, 1869.
ON THE EARLY RELATIONS OF IRELAND WITH
THE ISLE OF MAN.
THE "Isle of Man" presents many features of special interest
to the Irish historian. Its first missionary was our own
Apostle St. Patrick, and its church for many years was
united in the closest bonds of fellowship with the Irish Church.
Its early colonists seem also to have gone forth from Ireland ;
for, whilst its mediaeval rites and usages bear the impress of the
Scandinavian settlers, its ancient language, traditions, and his-
toric monuments, all unequivocally proclaim that its original
inhabitants were an offshoot from the Celtic race. We may
on this head cite the words of the Rev. Isaac Taylor, who in
his learned work, " Words and Places," speaking of the early
colonization of the island, writes : — " The ethnology of the
Isle of Man may be very completely illustrated by means of
local names. The map of the island contains about four
hundred names, of which about twenty per cent, are English ;
twenty-one per cent, are Norwegian ; and fifty-nine per cent,
are Celtic. These Celtic names are all of the most character-
istic Erse' type. It would appear that not a single colonist
from Wales ever reached the island, which from the mountains-
of Caernarvon is seen like a faint cloud upon the blue waters.
There are ninety-six names beginning with Balla, and the
names of more than a dozen of the highest mountains have
the prefix Sliew, answering to the Irish Sliebh. The Isle of
Man has the curraghs, the loughs, and the Aliens of Ireland
faithfully reproduced."
The Firbolgs are reckoned among the first who colonized
VOL. v. 1 6
On the Early Relations of Ireland
our island. Now, Nennius, in his " History of the Britons,"
expressly declares that from Ireland they spread themselves
to Man and other islands: "The Firbolgs (such is his concise
but important statement) seized ttpon Man and certain islands
in like manner, i.e.,Ara, Ila, and Rachlin"1 Some writers,
indeed, have hesitated to refer these words to the Isle of Man,
knowing that an extensive district in the south of Scotland
was also formerly called by the name Man; however, the Latin
text of Nennius removes all doubt in the present instance, for
the phrase " Eubonia insula" which is there used, admits of
only one interpretation, viz., " The Isle of Man"*
Ptolemy, the Geographer, who wrote in the second century
of our era, places the Isle of Man among the Irish islands.
A hundred years later (A.D. 254) the migration of a colony
of Irish Cruithneans from Ulster to the Isle of Man is regis-
tered by our own illustrious annalist Tighernach. These early
settlers in our island had been gradually restricted in their
territories, yet they still retained a small principality in the north-
east of Ulster ; but being assailed even there by Cormac, the
son of Con of the hundred battles, they sought a home in Man,
whence they soon spread themselves along the west coast of
Britain. From this expulsion of the Cruithneans the Irish
monarch received the appellation of Ulfada : — " Cormac was
called Ulfada because he drove the Ultonians far away." —
(Tighernach, Annals ap. O' Conor Rer. Hib. SS. ad an. 254.)
Many of this tribe, however, chose to remain in Ireland and
pay tribute to the King of Ulster ; and we find them still there
when St. Patrick came to our island ; they continued to enjoy
there their own peculiar laws and customs, and they were
looked upon by the settlers in Man and Wales as still forming
part of their common family. Hence it will not surprise us
to find that in the beginning of the fifth century an Ulster
prince was chosen to be their king in Wales, and that a little
earlier the daughter of an Irish chieftain became the wife of
a Welsh monarch.
The Spanish Priest Orosius, a contemporary and friend of the
great St. Augustine, tells us that Ireland was inhis time inhabited
by the Scoti, and he adds—" Not far distant from Ireland is
the Isle of Man, fertile in its soil, and not too small in its
of mennius :— " me wonders of Man are here set down : the first wonder is a
id without a sea ; the second is a ford which is far from the sea, and which fills
i the tide flows and decreases when the tide ebbs ; the third is a stone which
es at night in Glenn Cinden, and though it should be cast into the sea, yet at
img s dawn it would be found in the same valley."— Irish Nennius (p. 1 19).
8 Geogr. lib. I, cap. 5.
with the Isle of Man. 243
extent : it too is inhabited by the Scoti tribes."1 About a
century later another continental writer repeats the same
statement: — "The Isle of Man, as well as Ireland, is inhabited
by the Scoti. — Mcnavia insula acque ac Hibernia a Scotorum
gmtibus Jiabitatnr"*
A very ancient Tract in the Book of Lecan (fol. 139, a. a.
MSS. R.I.A.), detailing the tributes due to Baedan Mac Cairill,
King of Ulster, speaks of the inhabitants of Sky and Man as
hastening to his seat at Dun-Baedain to offer their gifts. We
present the passage in full, as translated by Eugene O'Curry: —
" Even I who have come from Sky,
I have come twice and three times,
To convey gems of varying hue ;
I the Albanian feel neglected.
" Fifty, sixty, are on the water
Between Man and Erin ;
Here are nine who seek for heaven
Under the sorrows of pilgrimage."
At the close of the poem it is said — "It was by Baedan that
Man was cleared of tJie Galls, so that its sovereignty belonged to
the Ultonians thenceforward ; and tlie second year of ter his death
the Gaels abandoned Man"
Who the Galls were who are here referred to as having
seized on the Isle of Man, cannot easily be determined. The
word Gall is often used by the Irish writers as a sort of generic
name for all foreign invaders, and may perhaps in the present
instance be intended for the Saxons who about this time had
begun to make considerable progress in England. It more
probably, however, refers to Malgoy King of Venodotia, who,
according to Lhuyd, began to reign in the year 560, and who,
from his predatory excursions, was styled " the dragon of the
Isles." s
When it is said that the Gaels abandoned Man* in the second
1 Huic etiam Menavia insula proxima est et ipsa spatio non parva, solo commoda,
aeque a Scotorum gentibus habitatur. " — (Historiar, lib I, cap. 2.)
2 Cosmograph. (generally atttibuted to Ethicus) lib. I cap. 5. This work was
formerly believed to have been written in the second century ; it is now generally
supposed that it was written about the close of the fifth or the beginning of the
sixth century.
3Camden, "Epist. de Mona Insula," in " Defens. Brittan.," p. 204. _
4 Some historians have supposed that " the battle of Manann" in which Aedan,
King of the Dalriadians, was victorious (A.D. 581), has reference to the Isle of
Man. However, Dr. Reeves has very clearly proved that that battle was fought
at Mannan Guotodin, an extensive plain in North Britain (Notes to Annals of
Ulster, ad an. 581). See also " Chronicles of the Picts," by Skene, Edinburgh, 1867,
p. Ixxxi. seqq.
244 OH tflc Enrty Rations of Ireland
year after Baedan's death, this probably means nothing more
than that his troops returned to Ulster. The words of the
concluding sentence, as well as other testimonies, which
we will just now cite, sufficiently prove that the Isle of
Man still continued for a long time to be united with Ulster.
The date of King Baedan's death is not very clearly fixed by
our annalists. The Four Masters record his death in A.D. 585 :
"Baetan Mac Cairill, King of Ulidia, died." The Chronicon
Scotorum registers it in 580; whilst the Ulster Annals give
two entries of his death, first under the year 580, and again in
556. It was probably to the attack made by the Galls against
the Isle of Man that the Welsh Annals refer when they simply
record, in A.D. 584, "Bellum contra Euboniam."1
A passage of the Venerable Bede has given rise to much
discussion. Speaking of the conquests of King Edwin in the
.year 630, he says: — " Edwin subdued the Menavian islands to
the English crown" (lib. 2, cap. ix.) However, it probably was
not the intention of the historian to include the Isle of Man
under that designation. Certain it is that William of Malmes-
bury, when citing Bede's words, adds: — "The Menavian
Islands are those which we now call Anglesey, that is, the isles
of the Angles :" and King Alfred, who surely must have
known the extent of Edwin's conquest, in his translation of
Bede, expressly substitutes in this text the name of Anglesey
instead of the generic phrase, " Menavian islands."2 From the
Book of Rights it would appear that as late as the tenth century
Man was held to be tributary to Ireland. Thus among the
prerogatives of the chief monarch is mentioned, to enjoy in
Tara " the fruit of Manann ;" and subsequently is inserted the
poem of Cuan O'Lochain,3 in which, among the tributes which
were offered, it is expressly mentioned that, "on the Calends of
August were brought to the King the fruits of Manann, a fine
present." *
The " Chronicle of Man" records a curious fact in the year
1095. On the death of Lachman, King of Man and the Isles,
all the Manx nobility sent an embassy to Muircheartach
O'Brien, King of Ireland, asking him to send one of his royal
race to rule the kingdom during the minority of Prince Olaf.
The Irish monarch complied with their request, and sent to
1 " Annales Cambr. in Monum. Hist. Britt.^p. 831. The same annals, in 684,
make mention of an earthquake in the Isle»f Man: "Terraemotus in Eubonia
facfns est magnus"
'O'Conor " Rerum Hib. Scriptt." Prologom., part I, p. Ixv.
This writer was the chief sage of Ireland in the commencement of the eleventh
century, and regent of the kingdom in 1022. He died in 1024.
The Book of Rights," published by O'Donovan, for the Celtic Society, in 1847,
p. 3, and again p. 9.
with the Isle of Man. . 245
them his kinsman Donald Mac Teighe, a man of moderation
and prudence, to discharge the onerous duties of that high
office. Three years later, viz., in 1093, King Magnus of
Norway made a triumphal visitation of the Orcades and other
islands subject to the Norwegian sway ; and from Man sent
an insulting message to the Irish monarch Muircheartach,
commanding him to wear a pair of slippers on his shoulders
on the following Christmas feast, in token of his being tributary
to Magnus. The Irish nobles were indignant at the insult
thus offered to their sovereign ; but Muircheartach humbly com-
plied with the command of Magnus, adding that sooner than
imperil the peace of his people, he was ready to carry on his
shoulders the slippers of Magnus till the day of judgment.
Soon after, however, Magnus devised some other plea for in-
vading Ireland ; but, as the " Chronicle of Man" adds, being
surrounded by the Irish chieftains, he perished, together with
jail the troops which he had brought with him to the island."1
In 1176, Godred, King of Man, was married to Findgola,
grand-daughter of Muircheartach, King of Ireland, and the
marriage ceremony was performed by Cardinal Vivian. This,
however, did not prevent the Manxmen from lending their
aid to John De Courcy, when the Norman nobles invaded this
country, towards the close of the twelfth century. Indeed, in
1205, we find that there were no fewer than one hundred Manx
ships in the train of De Courcy. King John was displeased
with the devotedness they thus showed to one of his subjects,
and accordingly, in 1210, he detached a portion of his army
under the command of Fulcho, which ravaged the Isle of Man
for sixteen days, and -exacted hostages from Ronald, the reign-
ing King.
In 1238 two chieftains, one of whom was Gillechrist, son of
Muircheartach, received a mission from the King of Norway
to compel Harold, now King of Man, to pay the usual tribute
of his fealty. They soon expelled Harold from the island,
and it was only on his submission to the Norwegian monarch
in 1242 that they re-admitted him to the throne of Man.
There is one other curious entry connected with this prince,
and with it we will close our sketch of the civil relations between
Ireland and Man. In the year 1249 an Irish chieftain named
1 " Chronica Regum Manniae et Insularum," edited by" P. A. Munch, Christiana,
1860, ad an. 1098, seqq. When at an earlier period Sitric sought to combine all
the scattered Scandinavian Vikings against the Irish monarch, Brian Bortimha, he
was instructed to secure, "at whatever price they might ask," two princes, who
with thirty ships lay on the west coast of Man. These were Ospak and Brodir,
who took such an active part in the battle of Clontarf, and the latter of whom,
towards the close of the battle killed the monarch, Brian, but was himself slain
immediately after. Todd's "Wars of the Danes," p. clxix.
On the Early Relations of Ireland
Donald was pursued to death by the King. He took refuge
in the monastery of Rushin, dedicated to the Holy Mother of
God, but soon after was fraudulently induced to surrender
himself to Harold. He was immediately bound, hand and
foot, and led away to the wood of Mirescho, where he was
closely guarded. Seeing that no human hope of escape re-
mained to him, he turned his thoughts to God, and prayed the
holy Virgin, in whose sanctuary he had taken refuge, not to
abandon him in his distress. Whilst he thus fervently prayed,
the chains, of their own accord, fell from his limbs, and the
captive was soon in safety. The chronicler adds : — " Haec
sicut ab ore ejus didicimus, scripsimus."1
The temporal relations between Ireland and Man which we
have thus hastily sketched, were not without their influence on
the ecclesiastical relations between the two islands. Before,
however, we come to treat of this second part of our subject we
must devote a few words to a chieftain of the pre-historic age
named Manannan, from whom the Isle of Man is supposed to
derive its name. St. Cormac MacCullenan remarks in his
Glossary that " Manannan was the greatest mariner of this
western part of the world, and he was able to presage good or
bad weather from his observations of the heavens and from the
changes of the moon ; wherefore the Scoti and the Britons
gave him the title of God of the Sea; they also styled him
" Mac Lir" — i.e., Son of the Sea, and from him the Isle of Man
had its name."2 This Manannan belonged to the Tuatka-De-
Danaan race, and took part in the great battles of Tailltin and
Drumleene against the Milesians. The Tuatha-De-Danaans
being defeated with great slaughter, the surviving Princes chose
Manannan for their leader, and with him took refuge in the
island, which subsequently received his name. The other
islands on the Scottish coast seem also to have afforded a
refuge to the remnant of the Tuatha-De-Danaans, and to have
acknowledged the sway of Manannan.s
A very curious and ancient tale called "The exile of the
children of Uisneach," introduces us to a later king of Man,
who is styled the fourth Manannan that ruled the island. It
tells us that when Gaiar, the son of Naisi, anxious to avenge
the death of the sons of Uisneach, declared war against
" Chronica Regum Mannire et Insularum," ad an. 1294, p. 24.
Vellum MS. of " Cormac's Glossary," R.I. A. See a long note regarding this
Manannan by Eugene O'Curry, in ' ' Atlantis," VII., 226. Oirbsen was another name
of Manannan, and it was from him that Lough Oirbsen, near Galway, now Lough
Cornb, derived its name.
8 O'Curry, Joe. cit., p. 228. It was probably on account of this chieftaincy of
Manannan, " the son of Lir," that the scattered remnants of the Tuatha-De-Danaans
are generally styled in our poetic tales " the children of Lir."
with the Isle of Man. 247
Conchobhar, king of Ulster, about the time of the birth of. our
Saviour, Manannan, the fourth king of Man, united his forces
with those of Gaiar and ravaged the greater part of Ulster.
Conchobhar yielded to the storm, and sought for safety by
flight to the Orkneys and Caithness. Gaiar, however, held the
sovereignty of Ulster only for one year, and then by the advice
of Manannan surrendered it again to Conchobhar. "Manannan
(it is added) took Gaiar with him to Emhain Abhlach,1 and he
remained there till he died."5
Should we give credence totheManxtraditions,anotherprince
of the same name held the sovereignty of the island when it
was visited by St. Patrick ; he is said to have reigned many
years, and to have kept the whole island enveloped in perpetual
mists by his magical arts,s which, however, were of no avail
against the sign of the cross and the prayers of the Christian
missionary.
It was through our own Apostle St. Patrick that the Isle of
Man received the light of the gospel, and so devoted were the
Manx in after ages to his memory that the island itself was
often styled Inis-Patrick, i.e., Patrick's island.*
That ancient Celtic tale, " The Fate of the Children of Lir,"
which in all the richness of oriental imagery sketches the sad
fate and fortunes of the remnant of the Tuatha-De-Danaan
race, expressly teaches that it was by St. Patrick and St.
1 Emhain Abhlach, i. e. , Emhain of the Apple trees. Mr. O'Curry says this was the
present Isle of Arran in the Frith of Clyde, on the coast of Scotland. However,
Colgan tells us that the Isle of Man was known by this name at an early period,
and he thence derives the Latin name Etibonia, which is given to it in Gildas, Jocelyn,
and other writers. He thus writes: — " Mannia prisco sermone Hibernico Eumhoin
vel Eubhoin appellata reperitur ut constat ex veteri et eleganti carmine panegyrico
quod in laudem magni filii Godredi Mannise regis ante annos quingentos compo-
suit Arthulius sui sseculi prsestantissimus poeta, quodque penes me extat. Ibi
enem Manniam sopius vocat Eumhoin-abhlach, id est, porno arbors abundans, ad
distinctionem alterius Eubonise sen Eumonise quze Celebris olim erat sedes regum
Ultonise et Eamhain sen Eabhoin-mhacha Hibernis appellatur." — (Acta SS., p. 60.)
One verse of the poem here referred to is translated by Mr. O'Curry : —
" If the hosts of the men of the lands were yours
From the Boyne till you touched the Tiber,
More important to you for honey and mead -joy (would still be)
Emhain of Mac Lir, son of Lighir."
a" Book of Lecan," col. 880, seqq.; and " Book of Ballymote," fol. 141. The whole
tale is published by Eugene O'Curry in "Atlantis," VI. p. 398, seqq. It was proba-
bly during the reign of this Manannan that the district of Manand in North
Britain received its name ; for he and his allies are said in this tale to have con-
quered all the north of Britain. /<£., p. 419.
3 " The Statute Book of Man," referred to in Bullock's " History of the Isle of
Man," p. 3, seqq.
Colgan, in "Acta SS.," p. 60. — The promontory now called Peel was formerly
separated from Man, and in the " Chronicon Mannise" is always called Insula
Sancti Patricii.
On the Jiarly Relations of Ireland
Mochaomog the children of Lir were gathered into the fold
of Christ. In their privations and wanderings the fugitives
continued for a long period, it says : — " Till the time of the
faith of Christ, and until holy Patrick came to Erin, and until
holy Mochaomog came to Inish-glory."! The. readiness with
which they received the teaching of the messengers of Christ
is thus described : —
Listen to the Cleric's bell ;
Elevate your wings and arise ;
Give thanks to God for his coming,
And be grateful for having heard Him.
It is the more proper that ye be ruled by Him,
Because it is- He that shall liberate you from pain,
Shall bring you away from the rocks and stones,
And shall bring you away from the furious currents.
I say unto you, therefore,
Make you a confession of proper, accurate faith ;
Ye comely children of Lir,
Listen to the bell of the Cleric.
" The children of Lir, therefore, continued listening to that
music which the cleric performed until he had finished his
Matins ; * Let us chaunt our music now,' said they, ' for the
High King of Heaven and Earth,' and they immediately
chaunted a plaintive, slow-sweet, fairy music in praise of the
Lord, and in adoration of the High King; . . . They said
to Mochaomog : —
Come to baptize us, O Cleric ;
Take upon thee and arise ;
Clear away from us our many stains
And all our faults, O companion !"
It is added, that being baptized, they slept in peace ; "their
tombstone was raised over their graves,and their Ogham names
were written and their lamentation rites were performed, and
Heaven was obtained for their souls through the, prayers of
Mochaomhog."3
In the Life of St. Patrick composed by Jocelyn, a monk of
rurmss in the twelfth century, some particulars are given
1 There is an island of this name in the Bay of Erris, County Mayo, about a mile
west from the coast. St. Brendan erected a famous church and monastery there.
te place, however, referred to in our text seems to have been situated on the
coast of Antrim. See Archdall's « Monasticon Hib.," at the name Gluaire.
'Translation of Eugene O' Curry.- Atlantis, No. VII., p. 153.
with the Isle of Man. 249
regarding the preaching of our apostle in the Isle of Man.
When Jocelyn composed this work the closest relations existed
between the parent house of Furniss and its offshoot the cele-
brated monastery of Rushin in the Isle of Man, and hence his
testimony must be considered as presenting to us the local
records and traditions of the island. He tells us, " Very many
places (perplura loca) in Britain still retain the memory of St.
Patrick's miracles. But he having summoned around him
many well instructed and religious men, brought them (to
Ireland), and of these thirty were subsequently raised to the
Episcopal dignity. Sailing towards Ireland, he visited the
islands of the Sea; and Eubonia, i.e., the Isle of Man, then
subject to Britain, was converted to Christ by his preach-
ing and miracles : among which miracles the following one is
specially commemorated : — a certain necromancer, by name
Melinus, like unto Simon Magus, proclaiming himself a God,
sought by diabolical aid to fly in the air, but at the prayers of
St. Patrick he fell to the ground and miserably perished. St.
Patrick chose one of his disciples, by name German, a wise
and holy man, whom he promoted to the Episcopate and con-
stituted ruler of that new church, and the episcopal see was
fixed in the promontory which to the present day is called
Inis-Patrick, because the saint remained there for some
time."1
Another interesting fact in the life of our apostle is the con-
version of St. Machaldus,3 who, from a Cruithnean chief,
became a follower of Christ, and a herald of the Gospel tidings
in Man. We will give in full, from the "Book of Armagh," which
is one of the most venerable records of our ancient Church,
the narration of this event, so important in the ecclesiastical
history of the Isle of Man : — " There was a certain man in the
country of the Ultonians, in the time of St. Patrick, Maccuil
of Macugrecca, and this man was very impious, most cruel,
tyrannical, so that he was called Cyclops by the more thought-
ful ; depraved in deeds, in words intemperate, malignant in
action, bitter in spirit, quarrelsome in disposition, abandoned
in body, cruel in mind, a heathen in life, and void of conscience ;
sunk into such a depth of impiety that, on a certain day,
sitting in a rough and high mountainous place, viz., Hindruim
Maccuechach, where he daily exercised his tyranny, commit-
ting the greatest enormities, slaying his guests on their journey,
with abandoned cruelty and cruel wickedness ; seeing also St.
Patrick shining in the clear light of faith, sparkling with a
1 "Vita S. Patricii." Authore Jocelino, cap. 92., ap. Colgan, Tr. Th., p. 86.
2 The name of this saint in the early documents is found under the various forms
of Maccttil, Maguil, Mac/ail, Mac/iutus, Maughold, &c.
On the Early Relations of Ireland
certain wonderful glory of the diadem of the heavenly country,
firm in the unshaken confidence of his doctrine, walking in a
way suitable to his life, him he meditated to slay, saying to
his attendants, 'Behold, this seducer and perverter of men
comes, whose custom is to practise deceits to entrap many
men, and to seduce them ; let us go therefore and tempt him,
and let us know if that God in whom he glories has any
power.'
"And they tempted the holy man; they tempted him in
this way : they placed one of themselves under a cloak, feign-
ing him to be lying in the agony of death, that they might
fry the saint by this kind of deception ; so, on the arrival of
St. Patrick with his disciples, they were having recourse to
tricks, muttering prayers, and practising witchcraft and incan-
tations. The heathen said to him, ' Behold, one of us is now
sick, approach, therefore, and chaunt some of the incantations
of your sect over him, if perchance he may be healed.'
" St. Patrick, knowing all their stratagems and deceits, with
firmness and intrepidity said, ' It would be no wonder if he
had been sick;' and his companions uncovering the face of
him that was feigning sickness saw that he was now dead ;
and the heathens, amazed and astonished at such a miracle,
said among themselves, 'Truly this man is from God; we
have done evil in tempting him.' But St. Patrick having
turned to Maccuil says, ' Why did you seek to tempt me ?'
The cruel tyrant answered, ' I am sorry for what I have done,
whatever you command me I will perform ; and now I deliver
myself into the power of your supreme God whom you preach.'
And the saint said, 'Believe, therefore, in my God, the Lord
Jesus, and confess your sins, and be baptized in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.' And he
was converted in that hour, and believed in the Eternal God,
and, moreover, was baptized ; and then Maccuil added this,
saying, ' I confess to thee, my holy lord, Patrick, that I pro-
posed to kill you ; judge, therefore, how much I owe for so
great a crime.' Patrick said, ' I am not able to judge, but
God will judge. Do you, therefore, depart now, unarmed, to
the sea, and pass over quickly from this country, Ireland,
taking nothing with you of your substance, except a small
common garment, with which you may be able to cover your
body, eating nothing and drinking nothing of the fruit of this
island, having a mark of your sins on your head, and when
you reach the sea bind your feet together with an iron fetter,
and cast the key of it into the sea, and set out in a boat of one
hide, without rudder or oar, and wherever the wind and sea
shall lead you, be prepared to remain, and to whatever land
with the Isle of Man. 25 1
Divine Providence shall carry you, be prepared to live there
and obey the divine commands.'
" And Maccuil said, 'I will do as you have said; but respect-
ing the dead man, what shall we do?' And Patrick said, 'He
shall live, and rise again without pain.' And Patrick restored
him to life in that hour, and he revived quite sound.
"And Maccuil departed thence very speedily to the sea.
The right side of the plain of Inis is reached; having his con-
fidence unshaken in the faith, and binding himself on the
shore, casting the key into the sea, according to what was
commanded to him, he then embarked in a little boat, and
north wind arose and bore him to the south, and cast him on
the island called Evonia, and he found there two men very
wonderful in faith and doctrine, who first taught the word of
God and baptism in Evonia ; and the men of the island were
converted, by their doctrine, to the Catholic faith, whose
names are Conindrus and Rumilus. But these, seeing a man
of the same habit wondered, and pitied him, and lifting him
out of the sea, the spiritual fathers received him with joy ; he,
therefore, after finding himself in a region believing in God,
conformed himself body and soul to their guidance, and spent
the remainder of his days with those two holy bishops, till he
was appointed their successor in the bishopric.
"This is Maccuil Dimane, abbot and bishop of Arddae
Huimhbonii."1
We glean some additional circumstances connected with the
episcopate of St. Machaldus, from the other ancient records of
St. Patrick's life. Thus in the "Vita Tripartita" we read:—
"St. Machaldus being freed from his chains gave thanks to God,
and increasing in holiness he merited the episcopal grade on
the death of the aforesaid holy bishops, and he closed his life
there, illustrious for his virtues and miracles. There was a
city in that island called after him, of no small extent, the re-
mains of whose walls may yet be seen ; and in the cemetery of
its church there is a sarcophagus of hollow stone, out of which
a spring continually exudes, nay, freely floweth, which is
sweet to the palate, wholesome to the taste, and affording a
sure remedy to divers infirmities, and to the deadliness of
poison, for whosoever drinks thereof receives either instant
health or instant death. In that sarcophagus the remains of
St. Machaldus are said to have been deposited, but nothing is
now found therein save the clear water only; and though
many have oftentimes endeavoured to remove the stone, and
1 Dimane is evidently a corruption for De Mania; Ardd<z Huimhbonii is " The
Hill of Eubonia," or Man.
25 2 On the Early Relations of Ireland
especially the King of the Norwegians, who subdued the
island, and was anxious to have at all times such clear water
at sea, yet they all have failed in their attempts ; for, the deeper
they dug to raise the stone, so much the more deeply and
firmly did they find it fixed in the heart of the earth."1
The "Vita Quarta," which is referred by ColgantoSt. Aileran
the Wise, also states that Machaldus, being wafted by the
winds to the Isle of Man, "Found there two wonderful men
named Conindrius and Romulus, under whose guidance the
inhabitants of the island had grown up in the love of God, and
in the Catholic faith, and who instructed him in the doctrine
of life, and in the grace of baptism. He remained with them
in the pursuit of divine wisdom, and passed the remainder of
his life there, till he was chosen their successor in the episco-
pate. This was, indeed, a change effected by the right hand
of God, and in this the compassionate clemency of our Saviour
and his benign mercy are made known, that he who had
been a lawless robber should become a holy bishop."3
The Irish annalists place the death of St. Machaldus in the
year 554,^ and by his sanctity of life and evangelical labours,
during his long episcopate of sixty years, he not only atoned
for his former reckless career, but, moreover, won for himself
the title, which all subsequent ages have awarded him, of
Apostle and Patron of the Isle of Man.
The memory of St. Machaldus was honoured by "many
churches" erected in Man under his invocation, as the " British
Martyrology" assures us. Jocelyn adds, that "There was in
former times a large city in the island, the ruins of whose
walls may still be seen, and which bore the name of St. Ma-
chaldus."4 In the "ChroniconMannise" afact is mentioned which
proves that in the twelfth century the memory of the saint
was still cherished in the island. A band of pirates, it is said,
had plundered the church of St. Machaldus, in Man, and
carried away its treasures ; that night the saint appeared to
their chief, and, reproaching him for his crime, said, "I am
Machaldus, the servant of Christ, whose church you have
1 Colgan, " Trias," p., 98. * Ibid. p. 45.
3 Dr. Oliver, " Churches of Man," p. 75, says, " The 'Annals of Ulster' place his
obit in A.D. 488." This is an error. The "Annals of Ulster" in that year, or
rather in 489, place the death of St. Maccaille," who gave the veil to St.Brigid, and
whose church was in Cruachan of Brigh-ele, in the region of Hifalgia. " {Maguire,
ofM gan> Tr' Th>' P* 525)* ™S Salnt WaS whoUy different from the APOStle
Habebatur in ilia insula civitas quondam non exigua, cujus murorum adhuc
cernuntur residua ex ejus nomine cognominata."— (" Vita S. Patricii," cap. 152.)
with the Isle of Man. 253
sought to profane," after which words the saint transpierced the
pirate with his crozier.1
We may now turn our attention to a few of the difficulties
which beset the path of the historian when investigating the
history of the first Bishops of Man, and which we have
hitherto left unnoticed.
In the first place, then, some writers have hesitated to
reckon St. Germanus among the first Bishops of the Isle of
Man. Thus Mr. Oliver rejects his Manx mission as entirely
fabulous, and contends that Conindrius and Romulus with St.
Machaldus are the only historic names connected with the first
foundations of the Manx Church.2 Even Dr. Lanigan looked
on the connection of a St. Germanus with the Episcopate of
Man as an error of later times. The earlier records of St.
Patrick's life (he says) are silent as to any one of his disciples
bearing the name Germanus ; even among the contemporaries
of our apostle no one can be found with such a name whom
we can assign to Man. Hence, he conjectures, that the cathe-
dral of Man may perhaps have been dedicated under the^ in-
vocation of the great St. Germanus of Auxerre, and that
popular tradition took thence occasion to introduce a saint of
that name as the first apostle of the island. — ("Ecc. Hist."
vol. i, p. 304.)
What renders the matter still more obscure is the patent
contradiction between the statements of Jocelyn and Probus ;
for whilst Probus expressly styles St. Conindrius and Romulus
the first heralds of the gospel, Jocelyn narrates that it was only
after the death of Germanus that those other holy bishops
were chosen by our apostle to dispense the blessings of faith
to the people of Man.
A like uncertainty prevails in regard to Saint Mochaomhog,
whose name in Irish traditions was closely linked with that of
St. Patrick in evangelizing the remnant of the Tuatha-De-
Danaan race. The greatest of our .antiquarians, Eugene
O'Curry, has merely added to his name the simple note, "not
identified"
It would be unfair indeed to suppose that these doubts bear
with them no weight, or that every difficulty connected with
the first bishops of Man may be readily solved. We may
be permitted, however, to lay before the students of Manx
antiquities a few reflections which tend, in part at least, to
1 " Chronicon Mannise," edited by Professor Munch, Christiana, 1860, p. 12.
2 " Jocelinus is the only writer among the mediaeval historians who asserts the
Manx Episcopacy of this prelate (Germanus), an error clearly fallen into through
the profundity of his legendary attainments." — ("Ancient Churches of the Isle
of Man," by J. R. Oliver, M.D., in vol. 1st of " Manx Antiquities," 1868, p. 65.)
254 On the 'Early Relations of Ireland
reconcile the conflicting statements of our early writers on
this head.
. And first as regards St, Germanus. It is true that no one
of that name appears in the Irish Calendars in connection
with the Isle of Man, and that Jocelyn alone, among the his-
torians of St. Patrick's life, mentions such a saint as his dis-
ciple. The lessons in the ancient office used by the Canons
Regular on the feast of St. Patrick are almost the only other
authority that presents such a Germanus to us : in these lessons
we read that, together with St. Patrick, "was consecrated Ger-
manus, a Lateran Canon," who accompanied our apostle to
Ireland (ap. Colgan, "Trias," p. 196). ^
However, among the contemporaries and disciples of St.
Patrick, we meet with a Saint Coemanus? the son of a Welsh
prince, named Brecan. This prince was by birth connected with
the Cruithnean Ulster chieftains, and all his numerous family
are famed for their sanctity and reckoned among the saints in the
Irish and British records. His territory lay along the coast of
Wales, and his son Coemanus is precisely the person whom we
should suppose St. Patrick would select to preach the doctrines
of faith in Man. The British form of his name is Coemaun,
and the transition in the course of centuries to the more
classic Latin name Germanus t will not seem strange or novel to
those who are at all acquainted with the singular manner in
which Irish names are found transformed in the mediaeval Latin
records.3
There is, however, something more to be said about St. Coe-
manus. His name is commonly presented to us in Irish
records, with the usual Celtic prefixes, under the form of
MocJiaomhog. Thus Colgan, when speaking of this saint,
styles him " Coemanus cognomento Peregrinus qui et Mocho-
mocus" and adds, that his feast was kept on the 3rd of Nov.
On that day, in the "Martyrology of Donegal," we find precisely
registered the name of " Mochamhog the pilgrim."3 Thus the
one Cambrian name Coemaunus combined the two apparently
conflicting forms of Germanus and Mochamhog ; and the Latin
traditions which link together the names of SS. Patrick and
Germanus in the conversion of the Isle of Man, are found to
fully harmonize with the Bardic compositions which refer that
mission to SS. Patrick and Mochamhog.
We now come to St. Conindrius. In the lives of our apostle
J Colgan, "Trias," p. 177, num. 88, and " Acta SS." p. 311, seqq.
It was customary to change the Irish names into Latin ones, which were sup-
posed to have a somewhat similar sound. Thus, Tordealbach became T/ieodencns ;
Maithamhoin, Matthaus ; Sidhuil, Sedulius ; Ferghal, Virgilius, &c.
"The Martyrology of Donegal," edited by Dr. Todd, for I.A.S.,
1864, p. 297.
with the Isle of Man. 255
the name of this saint is indifferently written at times, Conderius,
ConindriuSy and ConnidriusJ- Colgan tells us that a saint of
the name Connidrius is mentioned in the "Martyrology of
Tallaght" on the 1 7th of September; and on that day in the
"Martyrology of Donegal" we find the same saint under the
Irish tiamsCoindre. Archdall,in his "Monasticon Hibernicum,"
p. 5, mentions an ancient church, Domnachcoindre, which bore his
name, and he adds, "the two saints, Conann, are patrons of it."
Now this leads us to the old Celtic form of the name, which
with the usual prefixes becomes Mochonna.'2' The Bolland-
ists assure us that in early records a St. Mochonna is registered
among the first bishops of Man,s and Colgan also asserts
that in our most ancient martyrologies, on the 1 3th of January,
is found the name of St. Mochonna, BisJwpof Inis-Patrick, i.e.,
of the Isle of Man, as he explains it* Surely this is no other
than the St. Conindrius of whom we speak. Now, in the
"British Martyrology," on the nth of February, we meet with
a Welsh saint named Canocus, who is styled by Giraldus Cam-
brensis Canauey and who with the usual Irish inflexions becomes
the Mochonoe and Mochonna of our native calendars.* The life
of St. Mochonna is given by Colgan, and from it we learn that
he was precisely a brother of the St. Coeman of whom we have
just spoken, and like him was a disciple of St. Patrick.6 The
"British Martyrology" has the following entry on his festival: —
" In Brechin, a district of Wales, the commemoration of St.
Canoe, confessor ; he was the son of Brecan and the uncle of
St. David of Menevia ; he was a man illustrious for his sanctity
in these parts about the year 492, and his memory is still
cherished by the old Britons of this island, especially in South
Wales." Giraldus Cambrensis mentions a golden collar called
" torques Sancti Canauci" which was held in great veneration
in Wales. Colgan also refers to some churches which this saint
founded in Ireland.?
J" Vita Tripart." lib. 3, cap. 61 ; Probus, lib. 2, cap. II, &c.
2 By a -somewhat similar change we find St. CronandsQ called Mochua. — " Mar-
tyrol. of Donegal," 22nd June.
3Bolland, "Acta SS." Octobris, vol. 8, p. 887.
4" Acta SS." p. 60. Dachonna was another form of this saint's name, and his
shrine was rifled by the Danes when they plundered the Isle of Man in the year
798. The following entry of the "Ulster Annals," ad an. 797, has reference to this
event : — -'The burning of Inis-Patrick by the Gentiles, and cattle plunder of the
country was borne off, and the shrine of Dachonna was broken by them, and the
spoils of the sea were taken by them also between Erin and Alba."
6 . Girald. Cambr., in " Hiverar Cambrine," lib* I, cap. 2. Colgan, "Acta SS.,"
p. 312.
6 Colgan, ad 1 1 Feb. , loc. cit.
7 " Filius fuit Brecani. . . . vita? sanctimonia famosus circa an. 492, et
cujus ad hue inter veteres nostrre Insulse Britannos memoria est Celebris in
Australi maxima Cambria." — Ap. Colgan, loc. cit.
256 On the Early Relations of Ireland
It is more difficult to find any traces of St. Romulus. He
is styled Rumilus in the extract already given from the "Book
of Armagh." In the "Tripartite Life" he is called Romailus.
Ferrarius, in his "Catalogus Sanctorum," marks his feast on the
1 8th of November, under the name of "Romulus, alias Roma-
nits" and Marianus O' Gorman (ap. Colgan) makes mention of
a St. Romanus on the same day, probably the same as the
Romulus of whom we are now speaking.1 No other notice of
such a saint is to be found in the early Irish or British records.
The words of Ferrarius, who styles him Romulus, alias
Romanus (loc. cit), would seem, indeed, to justify the suspicion
that this was not his original name, but only a surname or
distinctive epithet that was subsequently given to him. If
this be admitted it would not be too hazardous, perhaps, to
conjecture that the saint thus designated was no other than the
St. Germanus, or Caeman, of whom .we have already spoken.
We have seen that St. Caeman, in the calendars already cited,
is called the Pilgrim, and that, according to the continental
traditions, he was reckoned among the clergy of Rome before
he accompanied St. Patrick on his mission to our shores. This
would surely, be a sufficient ground for giving to him the
epithet of the Roman, and should this conjecture prove true we
would find under the Latinized names of Conindrius and
Romulus the holy brothers SS. Canoe and Caeman, and the
words of Probus would at once be justified, that "they were
tJie first " chosen by St. Patrick to lay the foundations of the
faith in the Isle of Man.
As regards the relations of Ireland with the Isle of Man in
later times but little remains to be said. Usher tells of a British
bishop named Patricianus who seems to have had connection
with our apostle, and who, after leading a holy life in the Isle
of Man, happily ended his days there during the Episcopate of
St. Machaldus (oper. vol. VI., "Index Chron.," p. 581). The
"British Marty rology," on the 3rd July, commemorates as follows
all the early bishops of the Isle of Man : — " St. Germanus,
disciple of St. Patrick, and first bishop of the Isle of Man ;
SS. Romulus and Conindrius, also disciples of St. Patrick, and
consecrated by him. These two holy prelates had for their
successor in the Isle of Man St. Machaldus, a bishop eminent
for sanctity and ' miracles, who was honoured with many
churches after his death. These four saints were the fathers
and founders of the church of Man. In the same island
SS. Conan, Contentus, Bladus, and Malchus, who were all
1 A St. Maol, or Maolan, mentioned in the " Irish Martyrologies," is supposed by
me to be the same as the Latin Romulus. This conjecture, however, has little
some
to commend it.
with the Isle of Man. 257
successively bishops of Man and the islands, and were all
found worthy to be ranked after their death among the saints."
Among the additional bishops whose names are here pre-
sented to us, there is only one about whom any particulars
have come down to us. St. Conan was of a princely Scotic
family, and he had for his disciple the great St. Fiacm'who in
the seventh century laboured with such fruit in the missions of
France. He was remarkable for the austerity of his life ancl
for his devotion to the Holy Mother of God: " Prsecipue erga
sanctissiman Dei matrem inflammato ferebatur studio."1, His
death is placed by the Scotch historian, Camerarius, in the
year 648.
The seventeen parishes into which the Isle of Man was
originally divided, and the sites of the religious houses with
which it was formerly enriched, have preserved the names of
some few other Irish saints whose memory was cherished by
the early Manx faithful. Thus the old church of Kirk-Bride
and the nunnery attached to it were called after their patroness,
our own great St. B rigid.*
St. Lonmn, nephew of St. Patrick, gave his name to Kirke-
lewnam, now Kirklonan. Whilst at either side the island is
guarded by St. Michael, the centre has " St. Trinion's Church,"
which modern writers refer to the Blessed Trinity, but which more
probably was founded by the Irish saint, St. Trian. St. Patrick
has still two Churches which bear his name, whilst another to
the north-east recalls the memory of St. Maughold. Kirke-
saynton, also called Santon, 'was dedicated to St. Sanctain.*
The patrons of Kirk-Marown and Kirk-Jarnam have not been
fully identified ; they were probably SS. Moronog and Jarnog of
our Irish calendars ; Kirk-Onchan, also called Kirk-Conchan,*
gives us the name of St. Concha, or Conchessa, the holy mother of
St Patrick. The " British Marty rology" has, on the 2Oth of
October : — " SS. Bradan and Orora honoured in churches,
which still bear their names, in the Isle of Man." One of
these churches was the modern Kirk-Brodon, in the neigh-
bourhood of Douglas ; the other, dedicated to St. Orora,
Is supposed by the Bollandists to be now forgotten ;5 it
was known, however, in the sixteenth century ; for in the
1 Camerarius, ad diem 26th Jan. : Hector Boethiiis, " Hist. Scot.," lib. 9, p; 179.
*Rev. Mr. Gumming writes: — "The name Mailbrigid is evidently of Celtic
origin, and a name not unfrequent in the annals of these countries. One of the
churches in the Isle of Man is dedicated in honour of St. Bridget, as well as the
nunnery near Douglas." — (" Antiquitates Manniae," vol. i. p. 25.)
1Sec/r. EC. Record, vol. IV. p. 317. -;-
* Carlyle, " Topogr. Diet, of Scotland," ad voc. Oncan.
6 Vol. VJIL, for October, p. 890.
VOL. V. I 7
On the Early Relations of Ireland
chartolary of Thomas Stanley, Lord of the islands, we find
expressly mentioned "Ecclesia S. Crorae," which was manifestly
a corruption of the more ancient name Orora* A "Description
of the Isle of Man," written in 1744, makes mention of Kirk-
Carbv^htirchyard; this was probably nothing more than a
further 'corruption of the same name, and leads us to the still
Existing Kirk-Kerbrey, also called Kirk-Arbory, mentioned by
Carlyle,* and marked in the maps of Gough and Blean. The
Bull of Eugene the Third, confirming the grant of Rushin to
the Abbot of Furniss, makes mention of the " Monastery of
St. Leoc the town of St. Melius (villam S. Melu), and
the district of St. Corebrie." Corebrie is probably not different
from St. Orora's Church already mentioned ; St. Malius is
the Latinized form of a name still retained in Kirk-Malew, and
this, perhaps, is derived from St. Machaldus or Machutus, one
of the first bishops of the see. It is thus that the town
Maclovius, now Malo, in the north of France, received its name
from another great British saint, Machutus, who was the apostle
of that district.
As regards the monastery of St. Leoc, it is conjectured that
its patron-saint was St. Lupus, who accompanied St. German
of Auxerre in his mission into Britain. The Abbey of Rushin
seems at a later period to have occupied the site of the more
ancient monastery. This abbey was enriched, indeed, with
many lands by Olave, in the year 1 1 34, but it was founded at
an earlier date ; for Sacheverall informs us that, " One Mac-
Marus, a person of great prudence, moderation, and justice,
in the year 1098, laid its first foundations in the town of
Ballasalley."— ("Short Survey," &c., p. 34.) We may add
that this Celtic name, Ballasalley, seems to preserve the memory
of the last-mentioned saint, for when analyzed it simply
means "the town of St. Leoc."3 The connection of the name
Leoc with St. Lupus is confirmed by a letter of Pope Urban
the Fifth in 1367, which mentions St. Lupus as patron of a
parochial church in Man.— (Theiner's "Monumenta Hib. et
Scot. EC. illustr. ex. vatt. codicibus," p. 332). Another letter
of the same Pontiff preserves the name of St. Columkille, as
patron of one of the Manx parishes, "in parrochia sancti
Columbae in Insula Manniae." — (Ibid. p. 331.)
| In "Monastic. Angl." torn. v. p. 253, seqq."
" Topogr. Diet, of Scotland," ad voc. Man.
Among the silver plate of the Abbey, sold to the Earl of Derby by the Crown,
on the dissolution of the Monasteries in Henry the Eighth's reign, are mentioned,
4< Four chalices, one crouche, i.e., a pastoral staff, one censer, one cross, two little
headless crosses, one navicula, i.e., incense-holder, one hand, and one bishop's
head, &c» The two last items refer to silver reliquaries, which probably encased
the rehcs of some early bishop of the see.
with the Isle of Man. 259
The few traces that still remain of the ancient churches of
the Isle of Man present a striking similarity with the early
churches of this country. One, and indeed I might almost say
the only, fragment of its old ecclesiastical plate, is a paten
found at Kirk-Malew, the very ancient inscription on which
preserves the invocation of the patron saint, "S. Maloua, ora
pro nobis"
The old inscribed crosses are, however, the most remarkable
monuments that have come down to us from the Celto-Scan-
dinavian period of the Manx Church. Worsaae and some other
writers have regarded these crosses as of pure Scandinavian
origin. Mr. Windele, however, has clearly proved that though
they are the work of Scandinavian artists, yet they are "deri-
vatives from the crosses of Ireland."1 These crosses were, for
the most part, erected in the churchyards of the island. " In
every churchyard," says the writer of an old "Description of
Man," in 1774, "there is a cross around which the people go
three times (at funerals), before they enter the church."
Thirty-eight of these crosses, either entire or mutilated, at
present remain ;* they are generally of elegant form, and
consist of shafts supporting circles and transverse arms, which
are elaborately sculptured, and covered with interlaced knot
and scroll work. Their dates range between the fifth and
twelfth centuries. Whilst thirteen of these crosses have Runic
inscriptions, only one preserves the figure of our Saviour
crucified,3 and only one other gives, in semi-Roman characters,
as deciphered by Dr, Wilson, the name JHESUS.
The figures of dragons and serpents are relied upon as indi-
cative of genuine Norwegian workmanship. To this we may
reply, in the words of Mr. Windele, that " Serpents and inter-
lacings form as much the staple of Irish and Scotch ornamen-
tation as they did in Scandinavia, and therefore, as a test of
origin, their presence is quite inconclusive. It requires no very
acute powers of discrimination to arrive at the very obvious
fact that the recently converted and naturalized Norsemen in
Man imitated a class of monuments which they found already
in existence in the island. They varied some of the ornamen-
tal details in accordance with their own national tastes, adding
or substituting devices and figures, familiar in their own sculp-
tures for those which they found prevalent in those now
imitated. We accordingly find the outline form of the Irish
1 " On the Runic Crosses of the Isle of Man," by John Windele, in transactions
of Kilkenny Arch. Soc. for 1854, p. 151.
2 Gumming, "The Ornamentation, &c." p. I.
3 On this and some other crosses of the Isle of Man an interesting note will be
found in " Proceedings of R.I, A.," May 8th, 1854.
260 On the Early Relations of Ireland
circle cross universally adopted. The Irish ornamentation, its
triquetra, interfacings, and imagery were in the main copied ;
but added to these were northern beasts and birds of prey,
snakes and hybrid animals, Runic knots and inscriptions inter-
spersed, derived from the myths of the sagas, and still well-
remembered Pagan imaginings."1
The inscriptions are for the most part a mere record of the
names of the persons for whom and by whom they were erected.
Some of these names are of a manifest Celtic origin. Thus,
one cross is erected by Thorlaf Neach " for Fiac his son, and
for the son of his brother Jabri."* Another inscription preserves
the name of Maelbrigid, i.e., " the servant of St. Brigid ;" it is
the most important of all the Manx inscriptions, and has
formed the theme of much discussion. It is thus translated
by Professor Munch : — " Maelbrigid, the son of Ethcan, erected
this cross for his sinful soul. It was Gaut that made it, and
all the crosses in Man."3
If so many crosses of Man have been preserved to our own
times we are not indebted for this boon to the Manxmen of
some centuries ago. The great majority of them were pulled
down and then used as building material for the later churches;
and Mr. Gumming assures us that the greater number of the
Manx crosses that now remain " have been discovered within
the last fifty years in pulling down the old churches in the
north of the island and erecting new ones."4
During the period subsequent to the Danish invasions the
ecclesiastical organization of the Isle of Man seems to have
been subject to many abnormal changes. Nevertheless, its
connection with Ireland was not wholly interrupted. In 1217,
Nicholas, Bishop of Man and the isles, chose the monastery of
Bangor, in Ireland, as his place of interment.5 Two years later
we have a letter from Pope Honorius the Third, in which he
laments the opposition which the King of Man had offered to
the newly-elected bishop of that island. " The religious of the
monastery of Furniss (he says), to whom the election of the
bishop canonically belongs, beingassembled together, and having
invoked the grace of the Holy Ghost, chose him unanimously,
1 Windele, loc. cit.
8 Munch, loc. cit., pref. XXIV.
8 Ibid. XXII. Mr. Cummings, in his paper on " The Ornamentation of the
Runic Monuments in the Isle of Man" ("Antiquitates Mannise," vol. I, 1868, p. l),
gives the following as his own latest interpretation of this inscription:— " Mail-
bngid, son of Athaken, as a work of art, erected this cross for his soul. His
betrothed caused Gaut to chisel it in Man."
*"Antiq. Mannise," vol. i,p. 4.
"Munch, "Chronic. Mannise," p. 26: " Sepultus est in Ultonia in domo de
Bennchor."
zvitk the Isle of Man. 261
and of one accord, to be their bishop, and sent him with their
decree of election to be confirmed by our venerable brother the
Archbishop of Dublin, the Metropolitan of said See, and Legate
of the Holy See, humbly soliciting by their letters that the
election being confirmed the rite of consecration might be
administered to him ; and that election, as well as the bishop-
elect, being duly examined, all things being duly approved,
he confirmed, said election, and consecrated the elected, sending
him to the bishoprick of the isles, with commendatory letters,"
&c. The letter then goes on to state that the King of the
Isles refused, nevertheless, to admit the newly-consecrated
bishop to possession of his see, and issued an order to the
clergy of his dominions prohibiting them from acknowledging
him as their ordinary, which gave rise to much injury to
religion. Judges are then constituted who are commissioned
to compel, by censures, the secular authorities to recognise the
canonically-appointed bishop.1
Another letter of Pope Urban the Fifth, in 1 366, addressed
to the Bishop of Sodor, authorizes the erection in the parish
of St. Columba of a convent and church for the use of the
Franciscans from Ireland.2 A few years later, in 1374, John
Dongan, Archdeacon of Down, was appointed Bishop of Man,
and the brief of his appointment adds, that "the clergy
and people of the island petitioned Rome to have him ap-
pointed to the episcopal charge." In 1395, Dr. Dongan was
translated to the See of Down, which he held for many years.
A short sketch of his life will be found in the first volume of
Irish Ecclesiastical Record, p. 266.
We know but little of the Isle of Man during the dark and
dreary era of the Reformation. From time to time, however,
it seems to have been visited by missionaries from Ireland.
In the beginning of the present century its spiritual care
devolved upon the Jesuits of Dublin, who received their
Faculties both from the Archbishop of Dublin and from
the Vicar- Apostolic of the Northern District of England.
Amongst the Jesuit Missionaries who thus laboured there we
may mention Father Gahan, for many years a bright orna-
ment of the Irish provinces. Some of the secular clergy of
Dublin next received the spiritual charge of the island, and the
present venerable Dean of Dublin and the Pastor of Ovoca
began their zealous missionary career among the few scattered
faithful of the Isle of Man.
1 See the original letter of Pope Honorius, in Theine^s " Monumenta Hib. et
Scot." &c., p. 14.
2 Ibid, p. 331.
262
THE BISHOPS OF FRANCE AND THE CATHOLIC
UNIVERSITY.
The Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin has graciously per-
mitted us to publish the following letters. They are answers
to communications addressed by His Eminence, at the request
of the Episcopal Board of the Catholic University, to the
Bishops of France. They evince the lively interest taken by
the Prelates of that great Catholic land — the eldest daughter of
the Church — in our struggles for the maintenance of pure
Catholic teaching. In this question of higher education they
see that the true issue is — whether or not our country will
continue worthy of the glorious name of CATHOLIC IRELAND,
which she has borne for so many ages : —
I.
Letter of the Archbishop of Toulouse.
Toulouse, Qth December, 1868.
MOST REV. AND MOST EMINENT LORD — I would respond
with the greatest pleasure to the touching appeal which you
have just addressed to me, but for the present, my Most
Reverend Lord, I can only express my regret. The canoniza-
tion of St. Germaine has involved us in considerable expense.
I still owe the sum of 75,000 francs, and until this is paid in
full, it will be impossible, Most Reverend Lord, for me to
undertake any other collection. However, I will not lose sight
of the exceptional claims of Catholic Ireland, and as soon as
I am able I will recommend them to the faithful of my diocese.
Accept, my Most Rev. Lord, the homage of my most pro-
found respect.
I remain,
Your Eminence's most humble and devoted servant,
ij< FL., Archbishop of Toulouse.
To His Eminence Cardinal Cullen,
Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland.
II.
Archbishopric of Bourges.
Bourges, 7th December, 1868.
YOUR EMINENCE — I have received the letter which your
Eminence did me the honour of addressing to me, in the name
of the bishops and archbishops of Ireland, for the purpose of
obtaining the assistance of the faithful of my diocese, in the
The Bishops of France and the Catholic University. 263
very arduous struggle which the Catholic University sustains
in its endeavours to educate in a Christian manner, and pre-
serve from error, the youth of Ireland confided to its care.
This question, which so materially affects the religious
future of Catholic Ireland, cannot be a subject of indifference
to us ; and, with this view, it is my intention, as soon as cir-
cumstances will permit, to transmit to my flock the appeal
which your Eminence has made to them through me; and I
shall be most happy if their sympathies, prayers, and alms,
responding to your appeal, give another proof to your Emi-
nence that, in our old land of France, works of Catholicity
always find generous and devoted hearts to assist them.
Accept, my Lord, the homage of profound veneration,
with which
I have the honour to remain,
Your Eminence's humble and obedient servant in Christ,
>Ji C. A., Archbishop of Bourges.
III.
A rchbishopric of A ix.
Aix, 2nd December, 1868.
YOUR EMINENCE — It is impossible but that the bishops of
France should receive with gladness the request of their be-
loved and venerable brethren the bishops of Ireland. Indeed,
our prayers and heartfelt sympathy, as well as our personal
alms, are yours. And in order that the latter might be more
conveniently transmitted to you, it would, perhaps, be desirable
for you to have some agent in Paris, through whom we could
more easily forward them.
As to the alms of the faithful, it would give me pleasure to
receive them for you ; but, unless under some specially favour-
able circumstances, I dare not solicit them, in consequence of
the many pressing wants which already exist.
Nevertheless, knowing as I do, more especially from your
letter, the peculiar necessities of Ireland, and admiring her
noble fidelity to the Catholic faith, I will, as far as prudence
will allow, omit no opportunity of exciting the charitably-
disposed to forward, by means of their alms, the laudable
efforts of the Irish Episcopate.
I am, with profound respect,
Your Eminence's humble and obedient servant,
»J< GEORGE, Archbishop of Aix.
264 Th* BisJtoPs °f France
IV.
Letter of the Bishop of Angers.
Angers, 2ist December, 1868.
YOUR EMINENCE — I have received the letter and the notice
that your Eminence has done me the honour to address to me
upon the important question of Catholic education, which at
the present moment, with such good reason, engages the atten-
tion of the archbishops and bishops of Ireland.
I read these documents with the most lively interest, and
immediately communicated their contents to the editor of the
Semaine Religieuse, which is published in my diocese, in order
to make the faithful confided to my charge acquainted as soon
as possible with their contents, and to secure their prayers and
alms for so deserving an object. I shall be very happy if,
responding to my appeal, they will enable me to send soon
to your Eminence some tangible proof of their generosity.
But I wish immediately to express to your Eminence my
profound sympathy and ardent wishes for the success of the
efforts of the hierarchy of Ireland. It is, indeed, an important
and sacred question, on which depends the future of Catholicism
in your noble, generous, and faithful Ireland.
But I am sure that, with the blessing of our holy and be-
loved Father and Pontiff Pius IX., assisted by the prayers of
all the Church, this great object cannot fail to succeed. It
will triumph at last over the resistance and obstacles which the
spirit of sectarianism or secular injustice may oppose to it.
Such are my wishes and desires. Be pleased to accept the
homage of my profound respect, with which
I am, my Lord Cardinal,
Your Eminence's most humble and devoted servant,
*fc WILLIAM, Bishop of Angers.
v.
Letter of the Bishop of Mende.
YOUR EMINENCE— I can readily understand how painful
to your Eminence, and to the other bishops of Ireland, it must
be to consider the position of education, and consequently the
future of our holy religion in your country, which has always
been so dear to the Church and to France. Would that we
could come to your assistance by aiding you in procuring those
pecuniary helps which you can hardly expect from your own
Government. We should be most happy to do so ; and all
the more so, because Ireland has always been to France a
and the Catholic University. 265
well-beloved sister, winning our sympathy by her misfortunes,
and our admiration by her courageous and unshaken fidelity.
But, unfortunately, my small and very poor diocese has been
of late years, and even recently, scourged by disastrous
inundations, so that our great Catholic works of charity, and
in particular that of St. Peter's Pence, absorb all our feeble
resources. I sincerely regret this, for it would have given me
great pleasure to offer my mite to your Eminence.
But you may rest assured that we deeply sympathize with
your Eminence and your faithful flock, and that we shall
never cease to offer our prayers to the Lord, that he would
vouchsafe to crown his work in your regard by bringing in that
era of liberty, peace, and justice of which we have witnessed
the dawn within the last few years.
May the holy Church, the spouse of Christ, have better and
more prosperous days in store for her, both in Ireland and
throughout the world.
Be pleased to accept, with my humble homage, the expres-
sion of the sentiments of veneration, affection, and filial devotion
with which I remain,
Your Eminence's most humble and devoted servant,
^ JOHN A. M., Bishop of Mende.
VI.
Letter of the Bishop of Chartres.
Chartres, 3 1st January, 1869.
MY LORD CARDINAL — Your Eminence has done me the
honour of writing to me, in order to call my attention to the
state of the Church of Ireland, more particularly in reference
to education, and to engage in its behalf the prayers of the
clergy and the faithful of my diocese. I have to reproach
myself for having allowed so much time to elapse before
answering your Eminence's letter ; but I may assure you that
I am not on this account indifferent to that which concerns
your church and country, which has ever remained so firm in
faith and so devoted to the Holy Father. I have already
spoken of this subject on various occasions, and I shall allow
no opportunity to pass of commending your zeal, and of
endeavouring to excite the interest of the faithful of my
diocese in favour of the good work you have in hand.
If we meet at Rome this year, during the holding of the
Council, we shall find an opportunity of conferring together
on this subject; and in the meanwhile, my Lord Cardinal, I beg
you to accept the homage of my respect and the assurance of
my devotedness.
^ L. EUGENE, Bishop of Chartres.
266 Traces of the Text of
VII.
Letter of the Bishop of Nevers.
Nevers, 15th December, 1868.
MY LORD — Several circumstances have prevented me from
replying sooner to the letter which your Eminence did me the
honour of writing to me on the I4th November last, and I
beg you to accept my most humble apology for the uninten-
tional delay.
I desire to assure your Eminence that my own personal
sympathies and prayers, as well as those of the clergy and
faithful of my diocese, will never be wanting on behalf of
your heroic country in her struggles for our Holy Faith, and
especially in those in which she is at present engaged for the
interests of the Catholic University.
Unfortunately, at the present moment, it is very difficult to
assist you by our subscriptions, as the generous faithful of my
diocese are already so much overburdened by the multiplicity
of good works, that it appears impossible for me to propose
any others to their notice.
I will, nevertheless, publish the touching letter of your
Eminence, and if its perusal should produce the happy effect
of unloosening some purse-strings, I would most joyfully
transmit to your Eminence the donations which I might
receive.
I am, with profound respect,
Your Eminence's very humble and obedient servant,
^ AUGUSTINE, Bishop of Nevers.
TRACES OF THE TEXT OF THE THREE HEA-
VENLY WITNESSES IN EARLY IRISH ECCLE-
SIASTICAL WRITINGS.
IN the works of vhe early Irish ecclesiastical writers which
we have been able to examine, we have not found hitherto any
direct quotation of i John, v. 7, such as could be fitly classed
with the luminous testimonies supplied by Tertullian, by
Cyprian, and by the African Bishops. But, although direct
arguments are wanting, the early Irish Church furnishes some
indirect traces of the text, which are of considerable value and
of great interest in the controversy that has so long raged
the Three Heavenly Witnesses. 267
concerning the Three Heavenly Witnesses. The importance
attaching to the testimony of these Irish witnesses, now first
called into court, arises from the peculiar position occupied by
the Irish Church in reference to other churches, and especially to
that of Gaul. The Irish evidence has a wide range, and repre-
sents much more than the local Church to which the witnesses
belong. Not that we underrate the value of the Irish tes-
timony as such, and taken alone ; how could we, when all
history is there to show that the Irish Church was what St.
Gregory Nazianzen declares the Byzantine Church to have
been in his day, a common emporium of faith for those of the
north and of the south ? But, such were the relations between
our Church and the Churches of Gaul, that the early Christian
monuments of Ireland reflect faithfully the teaching which,
issuing from Rome, illuminated Gaul before it passed into
Ireland. Now, it so happens, that any evidence calculated to
throw light upon the character of the Latin version of the Bible
that was employed in Gaul, becomes of very considerable im-
portance ; for it is questionable how far the Itala versio ever
prevailed in the churches of Gaul. If the readings used by
St. Hilary be compared with those used by St. Ambrose, it
will be found, says Lehir, that the latter bear a much greater
resemblance to the readings of St. Jerome than do the former.
And yet, the text of St. Hilary is not the African text, but
either the common Latin one corrected upon the Greek text,
which it follows more closely, or a recension holding its proper
place between the Italian and the African. In either case
the text in use in Gaul must be reckoned as an independent
witness of great authority, as indirectly representing the con-
temporary Greek text. Now the Gallic witnesses to the ge-
nuineness of the controverted passage (f Jokn,v. 7) are but two:
St. Phcebadius (A.D. 358), and St. Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons
(A.D. 434). The former was still alive when St. Jerome wrote
his book, " De viris illustribus," in which he says of him (cap.
1 08), " Vivit usqtie hodiedecrepita senectute" In his book, "Contra
Arianos," cap. 22, St. Phcebadius writes : "Denique Dominus;
Petain inquit, a Patre meo et ahum advocatum dabit vobis (Joan.
xiv. 20). Sic alius a Filio Spiritus, sicut a Patre Filius. Sic
tertia in Spiritu, ut in Filio secunda persona: unus tamen Deus
omnia, tres unum sunt." The latter, in his "Liber formularum
spiritualis intelligentiae," cap. xi. : — "Ad Trinitatem ; in Johannis
epistola : Tres sunt qui testimonium dant in ccelo Pater,
Verbum, et Spiritus Sanctus, et tres sunt qui testimonium dant
in tena, Spiritus aqua et sanguis." Of these two passages we
would remark that the testimony of St. Eucherius, while it throws
light upon the otherwise somewhat vague expressions of St.
268 Traces of the Text of
Phcebadius, so also, from the writer's connection with Lerins,
the school of St. Patrick, does it strengthen the force of
the expressions in use in the Irish Church. For it must
be borne in mind, that among the cotemporaries of St. Euche-
rius at Lerins, was numbered St. Patrick, the Apostle of
Ireland. " Each and every retreat," writes St. Eucherius, "that
is made glorious by the presence of holy men, has indeed a
claim upon my reverence; but most of all, and with singular
honour do I cherish my own Lerins, which welcomes with
arms of affection those cast away in the shipwrecks of the
stormy world, and gently leads beneath its sacred shades those
whom the world's heats have scorched, that there in
the inner coolness of the Lord their panting hearts may be
refreshed. With its gushing streams, with its green meadows,
with its luxuriant wealth of vines, with its fair landscapes, and
its fragrant scents, it is the paradise of those who dwell upon
it. Right worthy was it of being established in heavenly
discipline by Honoratus, its founder, and of possessing over
such an institute such a Father, in whose noble bearing the
vigour of the apostolic spirit shone resplendent. Worthy
was it, not only of having received him, but also of having
sent him forth ; worthy of being the foster-mother of sainted
monks, and of priests, sought for by all. At present it
possesses his successor, Maximus by name, whose glory it
is, that he was found worthy to succeed him ; it has
Lupus, of reverend name, who recalls that wolf (lupum) of
the tribe of Benjamin; it has his brother, Vincentius, a
gem sparkling with inmost lustre; it has the venerable,
grave Caprasius, the equal of the saints of old ; it holds those
holy old men who, dwelling in their solitary cells, have brought
the Fathers of Egypt among those of our Gaul."1 St. Patrick
was the pupil and companion of these learned and holy men.
In their company he learned to feed his soul with the doctrines
of the Catholic faith and the words of Holy Writ. Like St.
Eucherius, he too was familiar with the Holy Bible, and with
St. Eucherius he read therein the text of the Three Heavenly
Witnesses. And later on in his life, when he "read the canon"
with St. Germanus, of Auxerre, he found the same verse in
common use in the Gallic Church. Every vestige, therefore,
of this verse existing in the ancient Irish Church, to which St.
Patnckbrought the Word of God, is precious, as representing not
only the reading employed in the Church of the Island of
bamts.but also as an echo of the voice of that glorious Church
Gaul, which, by its ties with Rome, and with the East, had
1 St. Eucherius, « De laude Eremi," n. 42.
the Three Heavenly Witnesses. 269
gathered up into its treasure-house all the ecclesiastical learn-
ing of the age. And if at times the Gallic testimony sounds
somewhat faintly, the Irish testimony gives it strength and
clearness ; and the Gallic testimony, in its turn, confirms and
• explains the teaching of the Irish Church.
" Alterius sic
Altera poscit opem res, et conjurat amice."
Among the monuments of the Gallican Church which
recall the hi tres unum sunt of St. John, the Athanasian Creed
stands pre-eminent. It announces itself as a profession of
Catholic faith, and proceeds on to set forth what that faith is.
" And the opening words of the annuntiation are neither more
nor less than the category and antithesis exclusively peculiar
to I John, v. 7."
" And the Catholic faith is this : that we worship one God
in Trinity and Trinity in Unity."
It resumes the antithetical statement of the doctrine in tlie
seventh verse, through a series of statements provided as
guards against the various aberrations of known heresies :
" They are not three eternals, but one eternal ; as also there
are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated : but one
uncreated and one incomprehensible.
" So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty,
and the Holy Ghost Almighty : and yet there are not three
Almighties, but one Almighty.
" So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost
is God : and yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
" So likewise the Father is the Lord, the Son Lord, and the
Holy Ghost Lord : and yet not three Lords, but one Lord.
" So there is one Father, not three Fathers : one Son, not
three Sons: one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. So
that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the
Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He, therefore, that
will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity."
" It has been objected," observes Rev. Charles Forster,1
"that the seventh verse is not quoted in the Athanasian
Creed; to this objection I reply, I — that this Creed, although
derived wholly and solely from scripture, does not contain a
single scripture text. Like the web of the silkworm, it is, at
once, distinct and inseverable from its source. I reply, 2 —
that this Creed more than quotes, for it gives a running com-
mentary on this one text, inapplicable to any other text
throughout the Bible. The doctrine of the Trinity in Unity,
indeed, is most clearly deducible from Our Lord's baptismal
1 " The Three Heavenly Witnesses," p. 79.
270
Traces of the Text of
formula, and from many other scriptures; but it is deducible
only inferentially. In the seventh verse, and in it alone, it is
stated categorically and antithetically. Every categorical
and antithetical statement of it in the same form of words
must, consequently, be drawn from that unique verse."
Now, the Athanasian Creed originated in the Gallican
Church before the Council of Ephesus (A.D. 43 1).1 It has
been variously assigned to Hilary, of Aries (A.D. 429); to
Victricius, of Rouen (401), and to Vincent, of Lerins. This
brings us back to the cotemporaries of St. Patrick in the sacred
island, who, with St. Eucherius, above quoted, undoubtedly
read in their codices of the Bible the verse, I John, v. 7. Thus,
we find, issuing from that famous school of learning, about St.
Patrick's time, a profession of faith, in which the antithetical
statement of the Trinity and Unity of God is set forth eight
successive times in the very words and essence of the seventh
verse, which verse is distinctly and explicitly quoted by one
of the Masters of Lerins. And this profession of faith begins
and ends with a most formal assertion of the Trinity and
Unity of God as an article of faith.
It is interesting to remark that the Irish Hymn of St.
Patrick, preserved in the "Liber Hymnorum" (19 v.), and first
printed in Dr. Petrie's "Essay on the History and Antiquities of
Tara Hill," begins and ends with a profession of faith in the
Trinity and Unity of God. The phrases he employs forcibly
recall the corresponding passages at the beginning and end of
the Athanasian symbol, composed in the very monastery where
he had spent so many years, and ascribed to some of those
sainted and learned men who were his companions in that
blessed solitude. The hymn thus commences, according to
the translation by Mr. W. Stokes, in his " Goidilica,," page
66 : —
" I bind myself to-day to (the) strong virtue
Of an invocation of the Trinity.
I believe a Threeness under the Oneness in (the)
Creator of the elements.
I bind myself to-day to the virtue of Christ's
Birth with his baptism/' &c., &c.
And, after a series of other invocations, the hymn closes with
a reiteration of the verses with which it commenced. The
verses are thus rendered by J. C. Mangan, who in his endea-
vours to express their full spirit, has been led, without any
1 " Thesaurus Theologicus," vol. iii. p. 418.
the Three Heavenly Witnesses. 27 1
conscious purpose, to give the very hi tres unuin sunt of the
controverted passage, i John, v. 7 : —
" Arm me to-day, in this awful hour,
My prayer to the All-Holy Trinity,
My faith in Him, who reigneth in Power,
The God of the elements, Father and Son,
And Paraclete-Spirit, which Three are the One,
The incomprehensible Deity."
Of this translation Dr. Todd remarks, that it preserves in a
wonderful manner the tone and spirit of the original.
Before we pass on to some still more remarkable and satis-
factory references to the seventh verse which occur in Irish
writers, we wish to make a remark on another of St. Patrick's
undoubted works, namely, the book known as his Confession.
Certainly, every one will admit that the verse, I John, v. 7,
must have been well known to St. Patrick, since he was
at Lerins with St. Eucherius, who, in that island, wrote his
"Liber formularum spiritualis intelligentiae," wherein he ex-
pressly quotes vv. 7 and 8 as bearing on the mystery of the
Trinity. And yet, in his Confession, although St. Patrick
distinctly and formally sets forth the faith of the Trinity,
he never once cites this verse, which, beyond all cavil, was
well known to him. Nor does he apply to the Trinity the
formula of baptism occurring in the last chapter of St.
Matthew, which text also was most familiar to him. This
instance is quite sufficient to show how fallacious is the
reasoning of those critics who pronounce the seventh verse
to be spurious, because it has not been quoted by the Fathers
when treating of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. This
negative argument from omission is disposed of by the
fact that St. Patrick, whose acquaintance with the text cannot
be denied, yet abstains from quoting it in the very place where
It was to be expected that he should quote it. Especially when
he likewise abstains in the same contest from quoting Matthew,
xxviii. 19 ; for if the omission of one of these texts is to be
taken as a proof that it was not known to the author in whose
works the omission is remarked, why should not the same hold
true of the second ? And yet no one has ever hinted that the
text of St. Matthew was doubtful on this ground.
A still more striking instance occurs in the writings of
another distinguished ecclesiastic who flourished in Ireland
in St. Patrick's day. Muratori1 has published in the "Anecdota
1 See also Dr. Moran's learned work, " Essays on the Early Irish Church," p. 296, seqq.
272 Traces of the Text of
Ambrosiana" (vol. 2, p. I, seqq.), a MS. written about the year
700, which he had discovered among the manuscripts once
belonging to the famous monastery of Bobbio. This is a copy
of the Profession of Faith presented to St. Leo in the year 460
by St. Moctha of Louth, whom Marianus O'Gorman styles
•" the lamp of Louth, the father of an illustrious family." The
third chapter of this Profession of Faith is devoted to a full,
elaborate, and most accurate statement of the doctrine of the
Blessed Trinity. The Unity of substance, the Trinity of
Persons ; the equality of the Three Persons ; the distinction
of the same ; the procession of the Son from the Father by
generation ; the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father
and the Son (" Unus Deus, et ^t,nus Filius de Patre, Spiritus
sanctus Pair is et Filii") are all lucidly explained. Now, in this
entire chapter there occurs but a single scripture quotation
bearing on the subject of the Trinity, namely : " Spiritus
qui a Patre procedit ipse vobis annunciabit omnia," which is
adduced as proof that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the
Father, yet not by generation like the Son. And yet the Pro-
fession of Faith in itself is full of scripture texts. If, therefore,
the argument from the silence of the Fathers be decisive
against the genuineness of I John, v. 7, must it not tell with
equal force against Matt, xxviii. 19 ? But, in fact, these
examples prove that the early Fathers did not quote scripture
texts after the rules which modern critics would have laid
down for them ; and therefore that the much-vaunted argument
from the silence of the Fathers is by no means decisive. Nor
is this sparing use of scripture texts bearing on the subject
under discussion by them peculiar to the Irish Fathers. On
the contrary, it appears to have been the method in general
use. Thus Tertullian has a treatise, " De Trinitate," specially
devoted to that mystery. Now, surely, if we might expect the
texts of scripture bearing on the Trinity, Matt, xxviii. 19, and
I John, v. 7, to be found anywhere in his writings, we must
expect them here. " But," asks Rev. C. Forster,1 "what is the
matter of fact ? Not only neither of these standard proof
passages is adduced, but not a single leading text of scripture
is cited throughout the treatise in support of its doctrine of
the Godhead. Texts, indeed, are so introduced fragmentally
throughout, that the treatise is in a great part a tessera of scrip-
ture : but Tertulliln's reasonings and arguments are all in his
own words. He introduces many minute scriptures as bearing
upon the doctrine ; but he does not anchor upon one."
Before we leave St. Moctha's Profession of Faith, we wish to
1 " The Three Heavenly Witnesses," p. 170.
the Three Heavenly Witnesses. 273
draw attention to his use of the neuter, tria, to denote the per-
sons of the Blessed Trinity: "Credimus Deum esse: quod fuit
erat ; quod erat, erit, nunquam aliud, semper idem : Pater Deus,
Films Deus, Spiritus Sanctus Deus : unus Deus, et unusFilius
de Patre, Spiritus Sanctus Patris et Filii. Unius Trinitatis ista
substantia, et tria ista unam habentia voluntatem." This
phrase recalls to mind the passage of St. Augustine (De Civ.
Dei. lib. 5, cap. xi.): "Deus itaque summus et verus cum verbo
suo et Spiritu Sancto, qua tria unum sunt, Deus unus omni-
potens." -St. Moctha's name may, therefore, be added to the
copious list of Fathers, Greek and Latin, supplied by the
editor of the Paris edition of Tertullian's Works (fol. 1580), who,
from the second century down, one and all, state the doctrine
of the Trinity in this conventional phrase. Person asks,
" Would a mere English reader think that an author quoting
these words, ' And the three (things) one (thing)/ could pos-
sibly mean to quote this sentence, "And these three persons
are one thing ?' " This list of Greek and Latin Fathers abun-
dantly answers his question.
We now approach another form of expression which we
find in use in the early Irish Church, and which amounts
to a positive, though tacit quotation of the seventh verse.
We mean that form of expression in which the three persons
of the Trinity are introduced as witnesses, for in no other
place is the Holy Trinity set forth as a witness save in
I John, v. 7.
This mode of reference is not unusual in ecclesiastical
writers. -Rev. C. Forster (Op. cit p. 71), cites the following
examples :
1. St. Basil:—
rpiag Iv rpia^L fjLapTVpr)G£L'
" The Trinity shall bear witness in the Trinity," is the brief
but frequent reference of this Father.
2. St. John Chrysostom (Op. Tom. I, p. 587), has
icarw r/o£t£ [taprvptg
ava> Tpti£ juaprv/oce
To cnrpoairov rfjc row Oeou So&je SrjXovvrfe
" Tres testes infra, tres testes supra, qui inacessibilem Dei
gloriam manifestant."
3. To the same is ascribed a homily which runs thus : —
jBXcTre yap juot rac jua/orv/otac rr\g ajiag feat ofioovtrlov rpia$O£r
>:at <T£J3ou aurr)v OjO^wc, t'va juij aTroA^.
" Considera, quaeso, testimonium sanctae et consubstantialis
Trinitatis, et rite illam adora, ne pereas."
VOL. v. 1 8
274 Traces of the Text of
4. St. Gregory of Nazianzen, as cited by Germanus, of
Constantinople, in the eighth century, thus alludes to the
witness of the Trinity: —
0u 00avw TO ?v tvvorjtrot KOI roig rpidl TrepiXeijUTro/mi, ov fyOavd)
TO. rpia SteXftv, icai tig TO EV ava^ipofjiaC aXXa ju»j rig rag fjLaprvpiag
ravrag rov rpig-aytov, K. r. X.
"Statim ac illud unum cogito, trium luce circumdor: statim ac
tria dividere vellem in illud unum attollor: sed re quis hcsc
testimonia Trinitatis" etc.
5. Clement of Alexandria (or Theodotus), Op. Clement, torn.
2, p. 992, ed. Potter : —
Tlav 'prifJia tarareu CTTI Svo KOL TJOIWV fJLaprvpwv ITTI Trarpoe icat
mov KOL aytov irvtvjJLarog' t<f> &v fjLaprvpcjv KOLL jSorjOwv, at tvroXat
\ej6fjLevat ^vXao-ato-^at o^eiXovariv, K. r. X.
"In duobus et tribus testibus stat omne verbum; in Patre,et
Filio et Sancti Spiritu; quibus testibus et adjutoribus ae quae
sunt precepta servari debent."
6. Tertullian, "De Baptismo," p. 599. "Nam si in tribus
testibus stabit omne verbum Dei, quanto magis dum habemus
per benedictionem eosdem arbitros fidei quos et sponsores
salutis, sufficit ad fiduciam spei nostrae etiam numerus nomi-
num Divinorum. Cum autem sub tribus et testatio fidei (i.e., apud
I Johny v. 7), et sponsios alutis (Matt, xxix, 19) pignorentur,
necessario adjicitur Ecclesiae mentio : quoniam ubi tres, id est
Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus, ibi Ecclesia, quae Trium
corpus est."
These passages show, firstly, that the idea of the Trinity as
a Witness was familiar to the Fathers, and secondly, that it
came from I John, v. 7, since the allusions to that verse are so
plain, as to require no comment from us. We now addanothcr
to their number, from the Irish hymn of St. Sanctain, pre-
served in the "Liber Hymnorum," and published by Mr. Stokes,
and in the "Irish Ecclesiastical Record," No. 43, with a trans-
lation.
" I beseech the wonderful king of Angels,
For His is the name that is mightiest :
God be with me on my track, God on my left,
God before me, God on my right.
********
"May the noble Trinity awaken him (i.e., from sin),
For whom a good death is not in store,
The holy Spirit, the strength of Heaven,
God the Father, the great Son of Mary.
* * * * * * **
the Three Heavenly Witnesses. 275
" May God repel every sadness from me ;
May Christ relieve my sufferings ;
May the apostles "be around me,
May the Trinity of Witness] come to me."
We have, in this hymn, first, a solemn invocation of the
Blessed Trinity ; next, an enumeration of the three persons of
the same ; and finally, an invocation of these three persons,
under the title of the Trinity of Witness. We look upon this
as a manifest allusion to the seventh verse of the Three
Heavenly Witnesses.
Colgan, speaking of St. Sanctain, says, " Sanctain, a bishop,
by birth a Britan, is honoured on the Qth of May, in the Church
of Killdaleas, in Leinster, according to the Martyrology of
Tallaght, and the Festologies of Aengus and Marianus;
Samuel, a king of Britain, was his father, and Drechare, daughter
of Muiredhac Muinderg, king of Ulster, was his mother. "As
regards the date of St. Sanctain's Hymn," says a learned writer
in the " Irish Ecclesiastical Record," No. 43, p. 321, " it cannot
be fixed with accuracy, as we are ignorant of the year of the
saint's demise. It seems however certain, that he flourished
in the beginning of the sixth century. The title of "illustrious
among the ancients" given to him in the poem just cited, brings
him back to the first fathers of our Church ; the special archaic
forms of his difficult hymn, as Mr. Stokes justly calls it, point
to the same period, whilst his connection with St. Madog
cannot be verified in any other age. There are many saints
indeed who bear a similar name in our calendar, but there is
only one in whom the epithet of Madog the pilgrim is verified,
viz., the St. Cadoc, who holds so distinguished a place among
the saints of Wales. He, too, was the son of a British prince,
whilst, as Colgan writes, "he is justly reckoned among the
Irish saints, as his mother, his instructors, and many of his
relations were Irish, and he himself lived for some time in
our island."
We possess, therefore, a clear trace of the seventh verse in
this hymn, written at the beginning of the sixth century by a
bishop who united in his own person the traditions of the early
British and Irish Churches. For St. Sanctain was one of that
"numerous company of Irish saints, bishops, abbots, and sons
and daughters of kings and noblemen," who, according to
Mr. Blight, in his description of the Cornish Churches,* " came
into Cornwall, and landed at Pendinas, a peninsula, and stony
'The Irish words of the text, " Trinoit testa? forcibly recall I John, v. 7.
a " Churches of West Cornwall," by J, T. Blight, 1865, p. I.
Traces of tJte Text of
rock, where now the town of St. Ives stands. Hence they
diffused themselves over the western part of the county, and
at their several stations erected chapels and hermitages. Their
object was to advance the Christian faith. In this they were
successful, and so greatly were they reverenced, that whilst
the memory of their holy lives still lingered in the minds of the
people, churches were built on or near the sites of their
chapels and oratories, and dedicated to Almighty God in their
honour. Thus have their names been handed down to us."
The last document we shall refer to is the MS. " Book of
Armagh," now in Trinity College, Dublin, which Dr. Graves
has proved to have been transcribed about the year 807. In his
" Memoir of the Book of Armagh," Dr. Reeves, speaking of its
text of the New Testament, says: " In the first epistle of St.
John the famous passage concerning the witnesses, which in
our Testaments is the seventh verse of the fifth chapter, is in
this MS. entirely omitted, as it is also in the oldest copy of
St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate. What is our eighth verse succeeds
immediately to the sixth, and commences : " For there are three
which bear witness in earth? etc. (p. 3). If this were
correct, the presence of the words in terra could not be ac-
counted for without supposing that the original had also the
words in coelo together with the remainder of the controverted
passage. For, as Rev. Dr. McCarthy judiciously remarks,1 the
insertion of any part of the disputed passage, for example,
Iv rg y-g might be fairly urged as an argument to show that
the rest of the words must have been omitted by accident or
design, as there is no reason for admitting even one word,
unless the whole passage be genuine.
But, probably, the very singular reading of the text in the
" Book of Armagh" has led Dr. Reeves into error. For, the text
does not run : Quoniam tres sunt qui testimonium dant in terrat
etc. ; but* Quoniam tres sunt qui testimonium dant in coelo y
-spiritus, aqua et sanguis et tres unum sunt. Now, if the reading
in terra involves the presence of the seventh verse in the
original MS., how much more powerful is the argument supplied
by the words in coelo ? The presence of these words cannot
be explained save on the hypothesis that the mention of the
Three Heavenly Witnesses immediately followed. This is other-
wise rendered most probable by the fact that the name by which
this MS. was commonly known was that of '• Canon Phadraig,"
or the " Scripture of Patrick," as if it were the codex used
1 See " Irish Ecclesiastical Record," No. 43, p. 324, note 9.
2 Epistles and Gospels. Part 2. Appendix I.
the Three Heavenly Witnesses. 277
by St. Patrick, or a copy of the same ; and we have seen that
at Lerins, where St. Patrick studied, and where St. German,
under whom "he read the Canon," had been trained, the seventh
verse was read. The "Book of Armagh" contains St. Jerome's
Preface to the New Testament, and Sir James Ware tells us
that it gives St. Jerome's version. A more mature examination
may lead to a conclusion different from Ware's, but no amount
of examination can alter the fact that this codex MS.,
transcribed in the year 807 from an original, which was some
three hundred years older, presents unequivocal and un-
deniable traces of the seventh verse. That it presents mere
traces, and not the entire verse is due to some cause which
we cannot fully nor with certainty explain. Probably the
mutilation is due to an attempt at correction of St. Jerome's
text, undertaken by the transcriber in deference to Greek
codices, from which the seventh verse had disappeared. During
the period that separates St. Jerome from Alcuin, such
attempts to correct the text were not uncommon, as may easily
be seen from a comparison of the six MSS. of the Hieromymian
version, which are to be referred to that period. Of these three,
— viz., the Amiatensis, that of Fulda, and that of Harley,
omit the verse, whereas that of Toledo, that of La Cava, and
that of Demidoff retain it. Of these six manuscripts some
follow St. Jerome simply, others modify his readings more or
less to suit either the usage of the particular church to which
they belonged, or to correspond with the Greek exemplars
which their transcribers had in their hands. We think, more-
over, that no one who has weighed with care the arguments
which assign the La Cava MS. to the beginning of the sixth
century, will agree with Dr. Reeves when he asserts, after
Home, that the seventh verse is omitted in the oldest copies
of St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate, now extant
This much we have wished to say about the traces of the text of
the Three Heavenly Witnesses which we have observed in Irish
monuments. While we refrain from claiming for the remarks
we have here made the weight which is due to a conclusive
argument, we venture to hope that Biblical scholars will not
consider as altogether without interest these scanty gleanings
in a narrow field.
278
THE COMING GENERAL COUNCIL.
I. THE PREPARATIONS IN ROME.
THE announcement that a General Council has been con-
voked to assemble at Rome, on the Feast of the Immaculate
Conception, 1869, has moved to its depths the entire Christian
world. The summons issued by Pius IX. has made the
circuit of the earth, and has stirred with intense feeling the
hearts of all. It has sounded on the ears of the bishops as
the voice of Peter, who ever lives and rules in his successor ;
and, at its call, with one accord, they turned towards the
Eternal City which possesses in the apostolic chair, the centre
of episcopal unity. It was heard by the Christian people, and
they answered it with prayers and thanksgiving, mingling with
their joy for this fresh glory of the city of God, protestations of
their obedience, and of their reverence. To those who, unhappily,
are outside the circle of Catholic unity, the Pope's voice has
carried tidings of peace, as becomes the voice of the Vicar of Him
who, even towards the wayward, "thinks thoughts of peace
and not of punishment." And even those who sit in darkness
and the shadow of death, have been roused by it to salute the
dawn of that light for which they waited wearily, during the
long watches of their gloomy night. Some there are, no doubt,
who fain would not listen to it ; and yet, even they, find them-
selves strangely thrilled, in spite of themselves, by the tones
of this voice that calls together, to meet over the tomb of St.
Peter, those the Holy Ghost has placed to rule the Church
of God. The Catholic bishops and the Catholic laity; the
schismatic of the east, and the heretic of the west ; the deist
and the infidel of our modern civilization, feel, each in their own
way, that the Vatican Council is a power that will leave its
mark upon the world, and that its opening will be the opening
of a new era in history.
That this universal expectation will be realized is quite
certain. The decrees of the Council in matters of faith or
morals ; the changes it will introduce in discipline ; in a word,
the entire history will do more than justify the hopes and fore-
shadowings of men. These results shall be set forth at the
proper season in our pages. For the present, we propose to
describe, from time to time, for our readers, the preparations
that are being made for the Council itself, and to chronicle1
such events in connection with it as are likely to interest and
edify our readers.
a We wish to express our gratitude towards the Civilta Cattolica for the permis-
sion it has accorded to the Catholic press to reproduce the chronicle of the Council,
now appearing in its valuable pages.
The Coming General Council. 279
It was on the 26th of June, 1 867, that the Sovereign Pontiff
first announced his desire of convoking a General Council to
remedy the evils under which the Church is suffering. The
allocution in which this desire was expressed has already
appeared in our pages. The five hundred bishops who were
present on the occasion of the centenary, received the an-
nouncement with lively joy ; and on the 1st of July, 1367,
they presented to the Holy Father an address, in which they
expressed their hope that the Council would bring to the
world all the blessings which the Pontiff expected from it.
They added, that undoubtedly it would become, under Provi-
dence, and by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin, a
source of unity, of sanctification, and of peace. This address
also was published in these pages. The Holy Father, in his
reply to the bishops' address, declared that the thought of
placing the Council under the protection of the Immaculate
Virgin, was one most agreeable to his heart ; and announced
that the first session should be held on the 8th December, the
Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
On the 29th June, 1868, the Bull of Indiction was solemnly
promulgated, by which the Council was convoked to commence
in the Vatican, Basilica, on the 8th December, 1869. On the
8th September, 1868, the Holy Father issued apostolic letters
to all the bishops of the Oriental rites not in communion with
the See of Rome. Following the example of his predecessors,
Gregory X, and Eugene IV., who invited the Orientals to the
Councils of Lyons (II.) and of Florence, the Pope invited the
Schismatical prelates of the East to the Vatican Council. We
shall see hereafter how this invitation was received. On the 1 3th
of September, 1868, Pius IX. issued an encyclical, addressed to
Protestants and other non-Catholics, in which, after having
set forth the marks of the true Church, he invites them to
avail themselves of the opportunity presented by the General
Council to be reconciled to the Roman Church.
Meantime the preparations were commenced at Rome.
As far back as June 6, 1867, Cardinal Caterini, Prefect of
the S. Congregation of the Council, addressed, by order of His
Holiness, a circular to the entire episcopate, containing seventeen
questions on points of ecclesiastical discipline, which the bishops
were invited to answer. At Rome six special commissions
were issued, under the presidency of a Cardinal, the commis-
sioners appointed to each being men distinguished by their
learning and wisdom. The six Cardinal presidents, with two
other Cardinals, were to form a special Commission of Direc-
tion. To these has since been added a Committee of Prelates
to prepare accommodation for the bishops. The several com-
2 go The Coming General Council.
missioners meet frequently to discuss their respective subjects.
A votum in writing is prepared beforehand by one or more of
the consultoresy in which the matter proposed is treated with
all fulness and accuracy. The most rigorous secrecy is required
from all the members of these commissions, lest prejudice or
human respect might disturb the calm which should guide
such important investigations.
We give a list of the commissions, with the titles and
positions of each of their members.
COUNCIL OF DIRECTION:
Their Eminences Cardinal Patrizi, President] Cardinal
Reisach, Cardinal Barnabo, Cardinal Panebianco, Cardinal
Bizarri, Cardinal Bilio, Cardinal Caterini, Cardinal CapaltL
Secretary:
Mgr. Giannelli, Archbishop of Sardia, Secretary of the S. Con.
of the Council.
Consultors:
1. Mgr. Tizzani, of the Regular Canons of Lateran, Arch-
bishop of Nisibi, Head Chaplain to the Pontifical Troops,
Consultor of the S. Congregation of the Index, Examiner of
Bishops, Member of the Theological College.
2. Mgr. Angelini, Archbishop of Corinth, Vicegerent of
Rome, Canon of St. Peter's, &c.
3. Mgr. Talbot de Malahide, Domestic Prelate to His
H oliness, &c.
4- Very Rev. M. Galleotti, Prefect of Studies in the Semi-
nary of Palermo.
5. V. R. F. Sanguineti, S.J., Professor of Canon Law in the
Roman College.
6. V. R. Henry Feye, Prof, of Canon Law in Cath. Univer-
sity of Louvain.
7. V. R. C. J. Hefele, Prof, of Ecclesiastical History in the
University of Tubingen.
COMMISSION ON CEREMONIES.
President — Cardinal Patrizi.
Consultors :
1. Mgr. D. Bartolini, Secretary of the S. Con. of Rites,
Domestic Prelate, &c.
2. Mgr. L. Ferrari, Prefect of the Pontifical Ceremonies,
Domestic Prelate, &c.
3. Mgr. Corazza, Cerem. Pont, Canon of St. Maria in Via
Lata, &c.
4. Mgr. Martinucci, Cerem. Pont, Prefect of the Vatican
Library, &c., &c.
5. Mgr. Balestra, Cerem. Pont
Secretary :
Mgr. Eicci, Cerem. Pont, Canon of St. Maria Via Lata.
The Coming General Council. 281
COMMISSION ON POLITICO-ECCLESIASTICAL QUESTIONS.
President — Cardinal Reisach.
Consultors :
I. Mgr. Marini, Archbishop of Orvieto, Pro-Secretary of the
5. Con. of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, &c. 2. Mgr.
Papardo del Parco, Bishop of Sinope, &c. 3. Mgr. D. Bartolini.
4. Mgr. Jacobini, Canon of the Lateran, Basilica ; Secretary of
the S. Con. of Propaganda for the Oriental Rite, &c. 5. Mgr.
L. Ferrari. 6. Mgr. Nussi, Canon of St. Mary Major's. 7. Mgr.
L. Gizzi, Domestic Prelate of H. H., &c. 8. V. R. Father
Guardi, Vicar-Genral of the Ministri Degli Infirmi. 9. V. R.
Canon Covaes, of Kalocza. 10. V. R. Canon Molitor. of Spires.
II. V. R. Canon Chesnel, V. G. of Quimper. 12. Mgr. Trin-
chieri, Secretary of the Commission. 13. V. R. Canon Mou-
fang, Rector of the Seminary at Megonza. 14. V. R. A.
Gibert, Vicar-General of Moulins. 15. V. R. Prof. Biondi.
COMMISSION ON THE ORIENTAL CHURCHES AND MISSIONS.
President — Card. Barnabo.
Consultors :
I. Mgr. Simeoni, Secretary of the S. C. of Propaganda for
the Oriental Rite, Domestic Prelate, Examiner of Bishops,
Prefect of Studies in the Roman Seminary. 2. Mgr. Jacobini.
3. V. R. Father Bollig, S.J., Professor of Arabic and Sans-
crit in the Roman University, &c., &c. 4. V. R. F. Vercellone,
Assistant-General of the Barnabites (died 19, Jan.). 5. V. R.
Mgr. Theiner, of the Oratory, Prefect of the Vatican Archives.
6. V. R. F. Valerga, Prefect of the Carmelite Foreign Missions
in Liria. 7. V. R. Joseph David, Syrian Chor-Episcopus of
Mossoul. 8. V. R. Prof. Roncetti, Canon of the St. Maria ad
Martyres. 9. V. R. F. Rosi, ex-Archivist of Propaganda.
II. Mgr. Cretoni, Archivist of Propaganda, Professor of Logic
and Metaphysics in the Urban College, Secretary of the Com-
mission. 12. V. R. Abbot Haneberg, O.S.B., of St. Boniface,
Munich, Prof, of Theology in the University of Munich. 13.
V. R. F. Martinhof, S.J., 14. Mgr. Howard, Domestic Pre-
late to H. H., &c.
COMMISSION ON REGULARS,
President — Cardinal Bizarri,
Consultors :
^ I. Mgr. Marini. 2. Mgr. S. Svegliati, Secretary of the S.
Con. of Bishops and Regulars. 3. Mgr. Trombetta, Sub-
Secretary of the same. 4. Mgr. Lucidi. 5. V. R. F. Capelli,
Procurator-General of the Barnabites. 6. V. R. F. Bianchi,
O.P. 7. V. R. F. Joachim, of the Minor Observants. 8. V.
232 The Coming General Cotmcil
R F. Cretoni, O.S.A. 9- V. R. F. Costa, SJ. 10. Mgr.
Guisasola, Archpriest of Seville, n. V. R. Don F. Stoppani,
Canon of St. Maria, in Trastevere, Secretary of the Com-
mission.
COMMISSION ON DOGMATIC THEOLOGY.
President — Cardinal Bilio.
Consultors :
I. Mgr. Cardoni, Archbishop of Edessa, Secretary of the
S. Con. for Examining Bishops, &c. 2. V. R. F. Spada, O.P.,
Master of the Sacred Palace, &c. 3. V. R. F. De Ferrari, O.P.
4. V. R. F. Perrone, S. J., Theologian of the Dataria Apostolica,
&c., &c. 5. Mgr. Schovetz, Prof, of Theology in the Uni-
versity of Vienna, &c. 6. V. R. F. Mura, ex-General of the
Servites. 7. V. R. F. Adragna, of the Minor Conventuals.
8. Mgr. Jacquenet, Parish Priest of St. James's, Rheims. 9.
V. R. Don C. Gay, V. G. of Portiers. 10. V. R. F. Martenelli,
O.S.A., Prof, of S. Scripture in the Roman University. II.
V. R. G. Pecci, Prof, of Philosophy in the Roman University.
12. V. R. F. Franzelin, SJ., Prof, of Theology in the Roman
College. 13. V. R. F. Schrader, SJ., Prof, of Theology in
the University of Vienna. 14. V. R. C. Santori, Rector of the
Roman Seminary, Secretary of the Commission. 15. V. R. P.
Petacci, Prof, of Logic and Metaphysics in the Roman Semi-
nary. 1 6. V. R. F. Hettinger, Prof, of Dogma in the University
ofWitzburg. 17. V. R. John Abrog, Prof, of Ecclesiastical
History in the University of Friburg in Brisgau. 8. V. R.
James Corcoran, V. G. of Charleston, U.S.A. 19. V. R. Canon
Labrador, Prof, of Theology and of Philosophy in the Semi-
nary of Cadiz. 20. V. R. Mgr. Weathers, Rector of St. Ed-
mund's College, Ware.
COMMISSION ON ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE.
President — Cardinal Caterini.
Consultors:
I. Mgr. Giannelli. 2. Mgr. Angelini. 3. Mgr. Svegliati,
4. Mgr. Simeoni. 5. Mgr. Nina. 6. Mgr. Jacobini, Secretary
of the Commission. 7. Mgr. Mobili. 8. Mgr. Lucidi. 8. V. R.
Canon de Angelis, Prof, of Canon Law in the Roman Univer-
sity. 10. V. R. F. Tarquini, S. J. 1 1. V. R. Canon Jacobmi.
12. V. R.Joseph Hergenrother, Prof, of Ecclesiastical History
in the University of Wurtzburg. 13. V. R. Henry Feije.
14. V. R. Canon Sauve, of Laval. 15. V. R. Canon Grese,
of Munster. 16. V. R. Caspar Heuser, Professor of Theology
The Coming General Council. 283
in the Seminary of Cologne. 17. V. R. de Torres Padilla, Prof,
of Ecclesiastical History in the Seminary of Seville.
Having made this ample provision for the preparation of
the subjects to be discussed in the Council, the Holy Father
next directed his attention to the material preparations for the
holding of the sessions. It was at first intended, that the Con-
gregations of the Council should be held in the great hall over
the portico of St. Peter's, where the Supper takes place on
Holy Thursday ; and that the public sessions should be held
within the Basilica of St. Peter's, in the wing known as that of
SS. Processus and Martinianus. But after mature deliberation
it was resolved that the Congregations as well as the Sessions
should be held within St. Peter's; already the lines which
mark the precincts of the places set apart for this purpose,
may be studied on the pavement of the Basilica. Two
semicircles, one looking away from the altar of the confession,
the other looking away from the altar of SS. Processus and
Martinianus, are so arranged that their wings meet where the
two arches of the right hand lateral nave begin. Between
these two semicircles stands on one side the Papal throne,
with seats for the Cardinals, Patriarchs, the Orators of Princes,
and the Theologians of the Pope; and on the opposite side,
and in sight of both semicircles, the altar will be placed. In
the middle of the semicircle looking away from the altar of
the confession, will be placed the rostrum from which the
speakers will address the Fathers, who will hold their ser-
mons there. The stalls, arranged in eleven rows, will contain
nine hundred Prelates. The post of the shorthand writers,
the places for the masters of the ceremonies, are all definitely
arranged. Lest the voices of the Bishops should be lost
owing to the immense height of the ceiling, a vast pavilion
will be raised over that portion of the Church which is set apart
for the Sessions.
The discourses and deliberations of the Fathers will be
accurately and fully reported by shorthand writers. Already
a number of ecclesiastics of all nations are constantly in training
for this work, and only those whose ability is beyond all gain-
say will be admitted to the Council. The pronunciation of
the Latin varies so considerably in different countries that it
has been thought necessary to have reporters of all nations.
Already several of the Roman Princes have placed some
of their palaces at the disposal of the Holy Father for the
accommodation of the Bishops. In particular, Prince Torlonia
has offered his beautiful palace, near St. Peter's, called the
Palazzo Giraud. This generosity is not surprising to those
who are acquainted with the well-known piety of these noble-
284 The General Council.
men. But the following extract of a letter from Father
Abbona, Missionary in the Birman Empire to the Museo delle
Missioni Cattoliche (3rd January, 1369), may fairly surprise all
who read it The Birman Emperor, although a pagan, has
always esteemed and assisted the Catholic Missionaries, and
has sent to the Holy Father most respectful letters and rich
presents. The missionary writes : — " I spoke to the Emperor
about the General Council which is to take place at Rome
next year, and I mentioned to His Majesty that the Holy
Father Pius IX. had expressed his desire that no sovereign
would put any obstacles in the way of the Bishops of his
kingdom to prevent them from coming to Rome. The Emperor
replied in amazement — 'What! is it possible that any sovereign
would oppose so holy and just a request ? For my part, not
only am I not opposed to it, but I hereby promise to pay the
expenses of the Bishops of my kingdom, both in going and
returning; and moreover, it is my wish that you too should go,
and that some of my subjects should go with you, to pay, in
my name, a tribute of respect and veneration to all the Bishops
assembled in Rome. I desire too, to send to each of the Bishops
a gold cross, set with rubies, and you shall present it/ " " I
am certain," adds the Missionary, " that, unless hindered by his
ministers, the Emperor will keep his word, even though it
should cost him an enormous sum."
RUBRICAL QUESTIONS.
We have received from Ossoriensis tiiz following questions: —
1. On what days may the organ be played during Mass or
the Divine Office ?
2. With regard to the Sundays of Lent or Advent — Does
the prohibition of playing the organ extend to low Masses ?
3. When Benediction is given after Vespers, or during
Novenas, is it permitted to play the organ with the Litany
of the B.V.M., and the "Tantum Ergo," even though not
played at Vespers ?
I. As regards the first question, the Cczremoniale Episco-
porum lays down the following rule :— "On all Sundays and
festivals throughout the year, on which the faithful are
accustomed to abstain from servile work, it is becoming that
the organ and chant should be used in the church. Among
these, however, are not reckoned the Sundays of Advent and
Rubrical Questions. 285
Lent, except the third Sunday of Advent, which is called
Gaudete in Domino, and the fourth Sunday of Lent which is
called Lcetare Hiersualem (but only during Mass), and also
excepting^the feasts and ferias during Advent or Lent, which
are solemnly celebrated by the Church, as the Feasts of SS.
Matthias, Thomas of Aquin, Gregory the Great, St. Joseph,
the Annunciation, and similar festivals occurring in Advent
and Lent. So also on Holy Thursday at Mass only, and on
Holy Saturday at Mass and Vespers ; and whensoever for
special reasons (pro aliquot, re gravi) any joyous and solemn
festival is kept."
To this general rule we may subjoin the following decrees
taken from Gardellini's Decreta Authentica S. C. Rituum,
printed at the Propaganda, Rome, in the year 1856 : —
"In Dominica tertia adventus et Quarta Quadragesimae
pulsanda sunt organa in missa et in utrisque Vesperis." 2656,
ad 8. Et ita (S. C.) declaravit et in posterum servari manda-
vit quibuscumque Dec. in contrarium, alias desuper emanatis,
non obstantibus. Die 16, Oct., 1763."
" Cum tempore adventus nonnisi in sola Dom. Tertia,
quae dicitur ' Gaudete' et Quad, tempore in sola Dom. Quarta
quae dicitur Laetare ex praescripto Caer. Ep. cap. 28, permis-
sum sit ut organa pulsentur, quaeritur: an pulsari debeant in
Missa Solemni tantum, an vero^in omnibus aliis Div. officiis, seu
horis canonicis quae turn in metropolitana, turn in aliis Col-
legiatis Ecclesiis cantari solent ? Resp. Organa in praedictis
Dom. pulsari debere in Missa Solemni, et in Vesperis tantum ;
non vero in aliis horis canonicis. Ap. 2, 1718."
" Organa debentne silere Dom. Septuagesimae, Sexagesimae
et Quinquagesimae ?
" Organa non silent quando ministri altaris-Diaconus scil. et
Subdiaconus, utuntur in Missa Dalmatica et Tunicella licet
color sit violaceus. Die 2, Sept., 1741."
2. To the second question we reply that if the use of the
organ be not allowed at solemn Mass, a fortiori it should not
be tolerated at low Mass.
3. In answer to the third question we give the following
decree of the Sacred Congregation : —
" An servari possit asserta consuetudo pulsandi organum
tempore Quadragesimae, Adventus, et Vigiliarum in missis votivis
B.V.M. quae, singulis Sabbatis solemniter celebrantur, et in
ejusdem Litaniis quae post Vesperas cantantur ? Affirmative
et amplius. Ap. 14, 1753."
To this we may add that it is the custom in the Churches of
Rome to play the organ during Benediction, as also during the
Litany, which generally precedes it.
286
CORRESPONDENCE.
ON THE JUBILEE OF OUR HOLY FATHER.
To tJu Editors of the Ecclesiastical Record.
"25th February, 1869.
"GENTLEMEN, — An esteemed correspondent, lately writing
from Rome, tells me, that the youth of Italy, and (he believes)
of Austria, and of some parts of Spain, are preparing an ad-
dress and a small present, to be offered to His Holiness on
the approaching 5<Dth Anniversary of his first Mass, the nth of
April next. I am sure it would gladden the heart of our Holy
Father to receive a like offering from his sons in Ireland.
And a suggestion to this effect in your influential pages would
not fail to be responded to by the esteemed Heads of Colleges
and the youth entrusted to their charge, and would evoke that
spirit of devotion to the Chair of Peter, of veneration for the
aged Pontiff, and of love for our Holy Father, which animates
the heart of every true Catholic child of Ireland.
" I remain, gentlemen, your obedient servant,
"CATHOLICUS."
DOCUMENTS.
I. RECENT DECREE OF THE HOLY OFFICE ON THE MANNER
OF RECEIVING CONVERTS INTO THE CHURCH.
Beatissime Pater
"Inter decreta primae Synodi Provincialis Westmonasterien-
sis sub C. XVI. n. 8., ubisermo est de abiuratione Protestantium
adultorum, et de baptismate sub conditione eis conferendo, ad-
ditur 'Confessio etiam sacramentalis semper in tali casu est exi-
genda.' In adnotationibus, quas adiecit Pater Ballerini Editioni
RomanaeTheologiaeMoralis P. Gury,dicitur hancconfessionem
esse conformiorem Instructioni a Suprema S. Offtcii Congrega-
tione super mpdo reconciliandi haereticos editae, ex qua Instru-
ctione deducitur, .opportunam esse integram peccatorum con-
fessionem. In textu P. Gury tenetur earn esse suadendam in
praxi.
"Quum vero hie Auctor tarn in Theologia, quam in casibus
Conscientiae citaverit opinionem aliorum Auctorum docentium
propter existentiam dubii de primo baptismate a neo-conversis
tempore infantiae suscepto (adeo ut si nullum id fuerit, vera
Documents. 287
baptismi susceptio sit ea, quae occasione abiurationis sub con-
ditione traditur) dubiam esse obligationem peccata integre con-
fitendi ante hoc baptisma conditionatum, nonnulli Confessarii in
Anglia censuerunt, eosauctores secuti, dubiam confessionis inte-
grae obligationem esse nullam obligationem : ac propter repu-
gnantiam conversorum ad earn faciendam, et propter periculum
confessionis imperfectae, veletiamsacrilegae, omnino expedire,
ut conversi aliqua tantum peccata Confessario exponant,ut ab eo
absolutionis sacramentalis, si forsan ea opus sit, beneficium
impetrent.
"Ex alia parte habetur praxis constans maximae partis Con-
fessariorum Regni integram confessionem tarn ante, quam post
approbationem Concilii Provincialis non modo suadentium, sed
etiam exigentium ; habetur difficultas conversorum, intellectum
ad obsequium fidei ipsius captivandi, nisi per animi humilitatem
et submissionem,quas in Sacramento Poenitentiae Christus Do-
minus reponeredignatusest; habetur etiam impossibilitassciendi,
nisi per integram peccatorum manifestationem, utrum neo-con-
versus rite sit ad ipsum baptisma dispositus, velitque, ex. gr.,
restitutionem famae vel bonorum (si ad earn teneri contigerit)
facere,occasionemproximam peccandi vitare, a matrimonio nul-
liter contractoresilire etiamsi, per S. Sedisdispensationem (uti in
casibus quotidie frequentioribus matrimonii post divortium ci-
vile contracti) illud sanari nequeat; habetur insuper necessitas
suae saluti per iustificationem in Sacramento Poenitentiae pro-
spiciendi, a cuius integritate nemo in infantia semel baptiza-
tus possit eximi;attenta praesertim diligentia iuniorum e Clero
Anglicano circa ritum baptizandi fideliter servandum, et attento
proinde maiori numero eorum, de quorum baptismatis infanti-
lis valore non licet dubitare.
"Quum vero certum sit, quod post plures annos confessio-
nis integrae obligatio vim suam omnino sit amissura, si in praxi
sequi valeant Theologi uti tutam opinionem Auctorum praefa-
torum, Archiepiscopus Westmonasteriensis, et Episcopi Angliae
enixe rogant, ut Sanctitas Vestra, pro sua in Missiones Angliae
benignitate, dignetur declarare hac super quaestione gravissima
mentem Ecclesiae :
"An debeat, iuxta Synodi Provincialis Decretum a S. Sede
probatum, confessio Sacramentalis a neo-conversis in Anglia
exigi, et an ea debeat esse integra ?"
DECRETUM.
Feria V. loco IV. die 17 Decembris, 1868.
" In Congregatione generali S. R. et U. Inquisitionis habita
in Conventu S. Mariae supra Minervam coram Emis ac Rmis
288
Documents.
DD. Cardinalibus contra haereticam pravitatem generalibus in-
quisitoribus proposito suprascripto dubio praehabitisque DD.
Consultorum suffragiis, iidem Emi ac Rmi Patres adutramque
dubii pattern censuerunt respondendum esse : Affirmative ; et
dandum esse Decretum latum sub feria quinta die decimaseptima
lunii anni millesimi septingentesimi decimi quinti.
Eadem die ac Feria,
" SSmus D. N. D. Pius divina providentia Papa IX. in solita
audientia R. P. D. Adsessori Sancti Officii concessa Resolutionem
Emorum Patrum adprobare ac confirmare dignatus est ; eamque
una cum memorato Decreto mandavit remitti R. P. D. Archie-
piscopo Westmonasteriensi."
ANGELUS ARGENTI S. R. et U. I. Notarius.
II. DECREE ON THE SAME SUBJECT IN 1/15.
FERIA V. die 17 lunii 1715.
DUBIUM.
"An plena fides sit adhibenda Carolo Wipperman de Rostoch
in ducatu Mechlemburgh praedicanti et Lectori theologiae Lu-
theranae quietisticae superintendenti et doctori primario sectae
Lutheranorum Quietistarum, S. Fidei catholicae reconciliato
in S. O. Parmae, et circa nonnullos errores detectos in eius
Baptismo ; an ipsi credendum sit circa ea quae enarrat, et qua-
tenus affirmative, turn ut ipsius saluti, turn etiam ut coeterorum
illius sectae seu Regionis, praesertirrtsi fuerint ignorantes, saluti
pariter consulatur.
"Quaeritur, an dictus Wipperman sit rebaptizandus, et quate-
nus affirmative, an absolute vel sub conditione; et quatenus af-
firmative ; an teneatur confiteri omnia peccata praeteritae vitae;
et quatenus affirmative; an confessio praeponenda sit, velpost-
ponenda Baptismo conferendo sub conditione.
"SSmus auditus votis Emorum dixit : Carolum Ferdinandum
esse rebaptizandum sub conditione, et collato Baptismo, eius
praeteritae vitae peccata confiteatur, et ab iis sub conditione
absolvatur."
289
MONASTICON HIBERNICUM;
OR,
A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT
MONASTERIES OF IRELAND.
[N.B. — The text of the " Monasticon" is taken verbatim from Archdall: the notes
marked with numbers are added by the Editors.]
COUNTY OF ANTRIM.
AcHadkdubthuigh, in Magh-li, a small territory near the river
Bann ; St. Goar, or Guar, the son of Colman, who was sur-
named the Big, to distinguish him from another St. Goar, the
son of Lasrenn and named the Little,1 was abbot of this
ancient monastery in the seventh century, and is still the patron
saint of it ; the festival day is held on the 22nd of January .a
This place is now unknown.
Achadhnacitt, a church in Dalrieda;b it was formerly known
by the name of Achadhcinn, or Achadhkind,3 and was built
by St. Patrick, who appointed one of his disciples, St. Cathub,
the son of Fergus, abbot ; he died April 6th, in the year
554.° We are told, in M'Geoghegan's annals, that at his
death this saint was 150 years old.
Now unknown.
B Act. sanctor. p. 223. * Dalrieda comprehended the N.N. W. and part of the S.
of the county of Antrim. c Act. SS.p. 192.
1 The name of St. Giiaire Mor appears in the " Martyr, of Donegal " on 22nd of
January: — "Guaire Mor, of Achadh-Dubhthaigh, on the brink of the Lower
Banna. He is of the race of Colla Uais, Monarch of Ireland." The feast of St.
Gttaire Beg is marked on the 9th of January: — "Guaire Beg, of Achadh-
Dubhthaigh, in Magh-li, on the banks of the Banna, on the west side between Loch
Neagh and the sea. He is of the race of Colla Uais, Monarch of Ireland."
The Genealogy of St. Guaire Mor is thus given by O'Clery : — "Guaire Mor,
the son of Colman, the son of Fuachtaighe, the son of Fergus, the son
of Laoghaire, the son of Fiachra-tort, the son of Colla Uais." St. Guaire Beg
belonged to the same family, being " son of Laisren, the son of Fergus, &c." The
Leabhar Breac states that "the two Guaires are commemorated in Magh-Lii"
(fol. 4, £); and we learn from O'Donovan's " Hy-Fiachrach " (p. 312), that the
territory of Lee belonged to the king of Dalaraidhe, and was situated on the west
side of the river Bann.
2Colgan (Tr. Thaumat. p. 182, n. 195) mentions the church of Achadnacille,
"Ecclesia hodie vulgo dicta Achadna-cille," as being in the territory of Dalriada.
It was situated at Aughnakeely, where there is still a very ancient burial place in
the townland of the same name, not far from the southern boundary of Kilconway.
The feast of St. Cathub, bishop, the son of Fergus, is marked on the 6th of April in
the " Martyrologies of Tallaght and Donegal." Colgan conjectures that he was the
same as "the priest Cathbad," who is mentioned among the disciples of St.
Patrick (Vit. Tripart. part 2, chap. 130), and who gave his name to Loch Cathbadh
in Dalaradia. See Lanigan's remarks on this matter, "Ecc. Hist" ii, 103.
VOL. V. 19
290 A ncient Monasteries of Ireland.
Antrim, from which the barony and county is named, is a
market and borough town, sending representatives to parlia-
ment, and is variously written by our ancient writers.s
Durtract, a disciple of St. Patrick,* founded an abbey at
Aondrium, or Entrumia.d
.p. 265.
'Antrim, in our Irish writers, is generally known by the name Oentraib; some-
times, too, as in " Annals of the Four Masters," at the year 1490, it is called
JEndruim, t.e., "the one ridge." In Latin writers we find it styled Oentreb,
sEndromia, Introia, Antroia, Entroia, &c. Much confusion has arisen from the
similarity of the Irish name with Oendruim, or Nendrum, situated on Strangford
Lough, in County Down. The following notices of the Church of Antrim occur
in our early Annals : —
A.D. 612. — "The rest of Fintan, of Oentreibh, Abbot of Bangor." (Ann. of
Ulster and Four M.) The Annals of Clonmacnoise call this saint "Fintan of
Intreive," and mark his death in A.D. 613. Tighernach mentions him under the
same year, as " Fintan of Aentruim."
A.D. 722.— "St. Flann of Aentrebh, Abbot of Beannchair, died." (Ann.
F. M.,Ulst.,andTigh.)
A.D. 822. — Bangor being plundered by the Danes in this year the relics of its
holy founder were translated to Antrim. The Ann. of the F. M. preserve a
quatrain, composed by St. Comghall, in which he predicts the desecration of his
shrine : —
"It will be true, true,
By permission of the supreme King of Kings,
My bones shall be removed without defect
From beloved Beannchair to Aentrebh."
A.D. 877.— " Muredhach, son of Cormac, Abbot of CEntraibh, died."
A.D. 941.—" Celbach, son of Bee, lord of Dalaradia, was slain in CEntribh by
his own tribe."
A.D. 1018. — "Antrim spoiled by Fermanach."
A.D. 1030.— "The men of Tyrone destroyed the" ships of the O'Longsy
(O1 Lynch}, in the midst of Antrim."
A.D. 1096. — " Flann O'Muregan, superior of Aentruibh, died."
A.D. 1147.—" Roscrea and CEntraib were burned." (Reeve? Eccles. Antiq. of
Down and Connor, p. 278.)
The glosses of the Felire of ^Engus, in the Leabhar Breac, at the 3ist July, give
us the following quatrain on the number of religious in Antrim and other monas-
teries: —
" The nine hundred of Beannchoir, the six hundred of Oentreib,
The five hundred of Conaire of the Contests j —
It is for Moedoc, it is for Choemoc, it is
For Comgall."
And it is added, " Mac Carthaigh Coir was soul-friend to them after Comgall."
One of the most interesting monuments that now remain connected with Antrim
is its round tower, which is about half-a-mile from the present town, and is one of
the most perfect in Ireland. Over the lintel of the entrance may still be seen the
beautifully-sculptured cross of the original building. See a drawing of it in
" Ulster Journal of Archoeology," vol. iii. p. 32.
Colgan, " Tr. Thauniat." p. 265, thus mentions this disciple of St. Patrick: —
" Durtractus, de &ndroim,f rater S. Dichuonis." O'Clery, in his " Book of Gene-
alogies," traces the descent of these two saints from Fiatach Finn, Monarch of
Ireland : " Dichu of Sabhall, and Durthact of Caondruim, the two sons of
Trichim, son of Fiec, son of lomchada," &c. In the margin is added, " Durthact
at Liathdruim on i6th May." In the " Martyrology of Donegal" at that day we
read : " Duthract of Liathdruim. I think that this is Durthacht, son of Trichim,
of Caon-druim, brother of Dichu, son of Trichim, of Sabhall, who is of the race
of Fiatach Finn, Monarch of Erin, and I suppose that it is at Tara, or near Tara,
he is honored, for Liath-druim and Druim-caoin are names of Tara."
The County Antrim. 291
A.D. 493, or 496. The abbot St. Mochays died the 23rd
of June.6
638. Cridan died at Indroim in Ulster.f
642. The bishop of St. Cronan died on the 6th of January.2
658. St. Cumineus, bishop of ^ndrom, died on the 1st of
July.h
679. Died the abbot Maney.'
746. Died St. Moelimarchar, bishop of Ectrumensis.6k
766. Died St. Failbeus, abbot of Erdamensis.1
Ardmacnasca, on Lough-Laoigh. ? m Laisrean, the son of
Neasca, and abbot of Hy, was founder and abbot of this'
abbey ; he died the 25th of October, about the year 650, and
is patron of the place.11
Ballycastle stands on the sea-coast in the barony of Carye ;
to the east of this castle is an ancient building, called the
Abbey, of which we cannot find any account. In a chapel in
this abbey is the following inscription :
In Dei Deiparseque Virginis honorem, illustrissimus ac nobi-
lissimus dominus Randolphus McDonnell comes de Antrim,
hoc sacellum fieri curavit An. Dom. 1612.°
Boithbokainf a church near Connor, founded by St. BolcainP
a disciple of St. Patrick.
"Act. SS. p. 189, M'Geogh. annals. M'Geogh. s Act. SS. p. 17, M'Geogh.
h Vard.p. 159, Act. SS.p. 59, M'Geog. s M'Geog. *Act. SS. index chron. > Id. p. 576.
m Called now Lough-Neagh. *Vard. p. 353, Act. SS. p. 631. "Bishop Pocokes
Journal. *Act. SS.p. 378. q7>. Tk.p.^Tj.
5SS. Mochaoi, Critan, Cronan, and Cuimmein, will be mentioned hereafter at
Nendrum^ in County Down, to which monastery they belonged.
6 The "Annals of the Four Masters," in the year 746, mention the death of this
holy bishop, Moelimarchar. He had nothing to do, however, with Antrim, being
" Bishop of Eachdruim," i.e., Aughrim, as O'Donovan explains it. (An. of
F. M. p. 349.) The "Annals of Clonmacnoise "' commemorate the same saint as
" Moyle-Imorchor, Bishop of Achroym O'Mayne," i.e., Aughrim, in the Omany
country.
7 Archdall is sadly misled by a similarity of name when he confounds Lough -
Laoig with Lough-Neagh. Lough-laoigh was the old Irish name for the modern
Belfast Lough, and was sometimes also called " Lough Bannchor " and " Bay of
Knockfergus." The Felire of ^Engus sufficiently identifies the name when it places
the Church of Kilroot on the banks of Lough-laoigh. See Reeves, loc. cit. p. 272.
The site of Ardmacnasca was not on the Antrim Coast of Lough-laoigh, but on
the opposite coast, in the County Down, where Holywood now stands. " The Mar-
tyrology of Donegal," on 25th of October, gives the feast of " St. Laisren, son of
Nasc, of Ard-mic-nasga, on the brink of Lough Laoigh, in Ulster." The church
or monastery took its name from its founder, St. Laisrean, who was called " Mac
Nasca " to distinguish him from the other saints of the same name. He was one
of those to whom the Letter on the Paschal Controversy was addressed from Rome
in the year 640. Usher, " Sylloge Epp." epist. ix. We^will again speak of "Ard-
mic-nasca " at Holywood, in County Down.
8 This church gave name to the present townland of Bovolcan, near Stoneyford,
in the parish of Derryaghy. Its patron and founder was St. Olcan, or Bolcan,
disciple of St. Patrick, whose life is given by Colgan, " Acta SS." p. 375, seqq.
292 A ncient Monasteries of Ireland.
Bonamargyf a small monastery, was built here, in the
fifteenth century, for Franciscan friars of the third order/ This
monastery is said to have been founded by McDonnell,5 whose
family settled in this county in the fifteenth century, and were
afterwards ennobled.1 This monastery and its possessions
were granted to the founder's family ; and the abbey became
the burial place of the McDonnells.
Carrickfergus™ on the remarkable bay of the same name,
is a corporate town sending members to Parliament.
1232. The foundation of a monastery here, for Franciscan
friars, is fixed on this year, but it is a matter of doubt who
was the founder; some say the famous Hugh de Lacie, Earl
of Ulster," according to others O'Neal.w We are inclined to
the former.
War.Mon. 'Allemande. Lodge v. I,/. 104. *War.Mon. "Allemande.
8 Bonamargey, t.e,t " Btm-na-Mairge, " takes its name from the river Mairge,
being situated at the spot where in former times the river Mairge entered the
sea. The ruins of the monastery still mark the spot, but the bed of the stream
was changed in the year 1738, when the harbour of Ballycastle was constructed.
The Bay of Ballycastle was formerly known as Marketon Bay, which was a cor-
ruption of the earlier name Mairge-town. A MS. list of the Franciscan con-
vents, which is preserved in the British Museum (No. 4,814, Plut. cxx. G. p.
2), states that the Convent of Bunamargy in the Reuta was founded in the year
1500 by Rory Mac Quillin, Lord of the Reute. Others refer this foundation to
Sorley Buidhe Mac Donnell, about the middle of the sixteenth century,; he, how-
ever, seems only to have restored or repaired the convent. The chapel of the
convent was re-built by the Earl of Antrim, in 1621, and the inscription given
above under Ballycastle is still preserved on an old tablet in the eastern gable: —
" In Dei Deiparseque Virginis honorem, illustrissimus ac nobilissimus Dominus
Randulphus Mac Donnell, comes de Antrim, hoc Sacellum fieri curavit. An. Dom.
1621."
In the year 1820, whilst some repairs were being made in the Antrim family
vault of this chapel, an oaken chest was discovered containing four manuscripts
which belonged to the old monastery, and which were in a state of good preser-
vation. One of these, extending to about 600 quarto pages, contains the chief
theological works of St. Thomas of Aquin, and an entry in the volume shows
that it originally belonged to the monastery of St. Anthony, of Amiens, in France.
Another volume contained an English translation of St. Bonaventure's " Life of
Christ," made in the fourteenth century. In the winter of 1859 another curious
discovery was made in a sand heap immediately adjoining the ruins. Heavy rains
had washed away a portion of the sand from one side of this heap, and thus were
laid bare a small silver Reliquary, some fragments of old silver crosses, and the
remains of very ancient book-covers. At a short distance was found, some years
ago, a rod of twisted gold thirty-eight inches in length, now in R.I. A., also a clasp
of gold, and other ornaments.
It is the tradition that the religious, despite the terrors of persecution, clung to
their cherished monaste y till about the year 1720, when they retired to a place
called Ardagh, on the adjoining slope of Knocklade.
It was in the neighbourhood of this monastery, at a spot called Duncarbit, that
Shane O'Neill, hi Elizabeth's reign, inflicted so severe a defeat on the Scots that
the battle-field is still known as Slaught, the place of slaughter. See Ulster
Journal of Archeology, vol. viii. p. 14, seqq.
0 McSkimin, in Hist. Carrickfergus, mentions an ancient monastic foundation
called " the Hospital of St. Brigid," which adjoined the east suburb of the town.
" Some remains of the chapel (he adds) attached to this, hospital remained within
The County Antrim, 293
1243. This year the Earl -of Ulster,11 and Gerald Fitz-
maurice, and Richard de Burgh were interred here.x
1408. Hugh M'Adam M'Gilmore, the fell destroyer of forty
sacred edifices, fled for refuge to an oratory of this church, in
which he was soon after massacred by the English colony of
the. r.ame of Savage. As the windows of this building had
been formerly robbed of their iron bars by his sacrilegious
hands, his pursuers found a ready admission to him.y
1497. Neile M'Caine O'Neill reformed this friary13 to the
order of the strict observance.2
* PeinbridgJs Ann. Haunter s Chron. * Marlboro's Annals. * War. Mss.
the last forty years, and persons were interred in it within memory. The lands
adjoining are still called the Spittall Parks,, and were, till the year 1823, free of
tythe. There is no record when this hospital was founded, or by whom. In the
36th year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, this hospital and the lands attached were
granted by the Crown to Richard Harding for thirty years. Some silver coins
have been found here of Edward the Third," p. 127. The same writer tells us
that there is also, a little north of the town, a well, called "St. Bride's Well," ad-
joining which was " the Spittall House," and which was granted, together with
the hospital, to Mr. Harding as above. In the deed of grant it is called " parcell
antique hereditament," and is said to comprise a small plot called "The Friars'
Garden,'' ib. 128.
A round tower is supposed to have formerly adorned this town. A survey in
State Papers, 2ist July, 1588, mentions "a watchhouse, or turret, sometimes
called a steeple," as then standing in need of repairs. An old map of the town,
published in Ulster Journal of Arch. vol. 3rd, presents a building close to the wall
next the sea which may perhaps have been intended to represent a round tower.
a Hugh de Lacy was interred in 1243, " Apud Cnockfergns in convenlti, Fra~
tntm." — " Grace's annals." Publications of I.A.S., 1842, p. 35. A long ac-
count of the doings of Robert and Edward Bruce before Carrickfergus will be
found in the same annals. We may add that the town sustained other memorable
sieges from King John, Shane O'Neil, and Schomberg. The English troops under
Sir John Chichester sustained a memorable defeat here in 1597.
12 The folio wing entry occurs in the " Annals of the Four Masters," at the year 1497:
" The monastery of the Friars in Carrickfergus was obtained for the Friars Minor
de Observantia by Rescript from Rome, at the instance of Niall, the son of Con,
son of Hugh Boy O'Neill, and sixteen brothers of the convent of Donegal took
possession of it on the vigil of the first festival of the B. V. Mary in autumn, having
obtained authority for that purpose." O'Conor, in his Stowe Catalogue, vol. i. p.
158, mentions as extant in that library a MS. of 52 pages in the Irish language,
containing the lives of sixteen saints, with the subscription at the end: " Fi\ Bona-
ventura Mac Dool, Guardianus de Carrickfergus, theologies lector." These lives
were transcribed from a more ancient MS. belonging to this convent.
As regards the first founder of this Franciscan convent, some have referred it to
De Lacy, others to a chieftain of the Magennis family ; but Luke Wadding assigns
the honour of its foundation to an O'Neill of the Clan-Aodh-Buidhe branch of
that family, for, he adds " that convent belonged to the O'Neils, and they used it as
their burial place" (Annales Min. ad an. 1242). Hugh de Lacy, as we have seen, and
also Richard de Burgh and Gerald Fitzmaurice, were interred there soon after its
foundation. A sacrilegious deed connected with this convent, and marked in
our annals at A.D. 1408, reveals the lawlessness that prevailed in Ireland in the
beginning of the fifteenth century. A chieftain named Mac Gilmore, after plunder-
ing and destroying sixty religious edifices and murdering two of the clan Savage,
took sanctuary in the Franciscan Church of Cnockfergus. Even this church,
however, had been already plundered by him, and he had even carried away the
iron bars which originally guarded its windows ; thus, his assailants were now
294
Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
1510. This monastery was in such high repute, that a
general chapter of the order was held in it this year.*
3 At the suppression of religious houses this monastery and its
possessions were granted to Sir Edmund Fitzgerald, who
assigned the same to Sir Arthur Chichester, ancestor to the
Earl of Donegall.b This nobleman, who was several times
Lord Deputy of Ireland, erected a noble castle on the site of
this monastery, about the year i6io.c
Cluain, or Kilcluain, was an abbey built by St. Olcan13 in
• War. Mss. b Harris's tabl. c War. Mss. v. 34.
able to penetrate through these windows, and he was murdered at the foot of the
altar.
The Franciscans of Carrickfergus seem to have shared the suppression of reli-
gious houses of 1537, for among the State Papers of Edward the Sixth's reign, there
is a petition of Hugh Mac Neill Oge, in which, after professing his allegiance as a
faithful subject, he prays, " to have, by a lease from the King's Majesty, certain
late monasteries, with the lands thereunto belonging, lying waste in his country,
and the late friar-house in Knockfergus granted unto him, that therein he may
place two secular Priests for ministration of divine service, alledging that his an-
cestors were buried there, and that in all his country there is not so meet a place
for burial as that is." This petition was granted, but it is probable that O'Neill
at once restored the Convent to its old proprietors. In the Harleian Collection of
MSS. , there is a petition from the " Freres Observants " of Ireland to Queen Mary,
dated November, 1557, in which they pray, that " it would please Her Majesty to
grant and confirm unto them and their religious order," certain monasteries. In
reply, Her Majesty instructed the Lord Deputy, the Earl of Sussex, to grant their
petition to them. During Elizabeth's reign, however, this convent felt the full fury
of the storm of irreligious persecution which raged throughout our island. Wad-
ding tells us that the religious inmates were expelled, and the English governor,
after seizing on all the sacred properties of the convent, cast five of the friars into
prison, keeping them there till all hope of further plunder was extinguished. The
names of these confessors of the faith are happily registered by the same illustrious
annalist, they are— Robert M'Conghaill, Eugene Mac-an-Tsaire, Donough Molan,
Charles O'Hanvill, and Patrick Mac Teige.
In the State Papers of the following years, the convent appears as " The Palace,
of late the Friars' House?' In a paper, dated 1st April, 1574, the memorable year
in which Essex set out on his fruitless attempt to conquer Ulster, the convent is
mentioned as a store-house for the English troops. As one of the results of Essex's
failure, it is also stated, that the town of Carrickfergus was destroyed ; all its
churches and dwellings being burned, and all its inhabitants having fled away. In
1583, the Lords Justices, in a letter to Walsingham, write : " The Palace is a
place very necessary to be safely kept, having in it the fairest and largest rooms for
storage and brewing that are in this land, besides sundry good lodgings."
The Palace, soon after the accession of King James, became the property of the
greedy and grasping Chichester,. who levelled it to the ground, and erected on its
site his family mansion called Joymount. This proud monument of Chichester's
ill-gotten wealth is now the County gaol.
The ancient plans of Carrickfergus show a large stone cross, called " Great
Patricks Cross," standing in the main street ; the pedestal of a broken cross is
also seen standing in the churchyard attached to the Franciscan convent.
The Franciscan, Edmund MacCana, in his" Itinerary "( A. D. 1640), remarks, re-
garding this town—" I have nothing to tell about it, except that it has been the
r?, e °Lfalse doctrine ever since the commencement of the Anglican heresy."—
( Ulster Journal of Arch. ii. 59 ; vii. 6, seqq.)
Colgan refers the foundation, not to St. Olcan, but to St. Patrick himself, who
subsequently placed Olcan as bishop there. Speaking of a church in the territory
of Dalaradia, which was begun by St. Patrick, Colgan says, « existimo Cluin sen
The County Antrim. 295
the early ages of Christianity ; it is now (according to Colgan)
a parish church near Connor.?
Connor y ^ e a small town in the barony of Antrim, and a
bishop's see united to Down.
506. The bishop Enos M'Nessa died on the 3rd of Septem-
ber, on which day his festival is held.f Others place his death
in the year 5i3.ff
The feast of St, Mainend of Cluain-Connor is observed on
the 1 6th of September,11 but we are not informed at what time
he lived.
537. Died the Bishop Lugadius.'
^Act. SS.p. 377. ' Our ancient ecclesiastical writers name it Cluain-Connor^
Coinre, Condere, Condoire, Connery, and Conry. f A nnal Inisfal. * Act. SS. p.
190. h Yard, vita Rumoldi. l Act. SS.p. 191.
rectius Cluain legendum, ut sit Ecclesia de Cluain sen Kill-Cluanensis quag est
parochia in Baronia et Disecesi Connorensi in regione Dalaradise." — Ada SS.,
p. 377). In the notes to Vita Tripartita (part 2, chap. 133), referring to the
Church of " Imlech-Cluana in agro Sernne," he says, " puto esse quae hodie Kill-
Chluana appellatur." O'Donovan tells us that the plain of Semne, which is here
referred to, " was situated in the territory of Dalaraidhe, in the south of the present
County of Antrim." — (Battle of Magh Rath, p. 211.)
14 The name Connor generally appears in the form Condeire in Irish records. Its
etymology is;thus given in a marginal gloss to the Felire of ^Engus at the 3rd of
September — " Chonderib, i.e. , Daire-na-con, i.e., the oak-wood in which were wild
dogs formerly, and she-wolves used to dwell therein." Colgan remarks that this
etymology per metathesim was common with the Irish; he hence conjectures that
Derechon or Dorechon, the site of St. Olcan's Church, was no other than the Con-
deire of which we speak. — (Ada SS. p. 377, n. 9.) The See of Connor was founded
by St. Patrick, who constituted St. yfengus Mac Nisse, its first Bishop and Abbot.
The Felire of ^Engus marks the feast of St. Mac Nisse on the 3rd ofS ep-
tember :—
" Mac Nisse with thousands
From the great Condere."
The Annals of Ulster and the Four Masters place his death in the year 513.
The Martyr, of Donegal, on 3rd September, has the entry — " Mac Neissi, Bp. of
Coindere. Cnes, daughter of Comhcaidhi, of Dal-Ceithirn, was his mother.
.^Enghus was his first name ; he was also called Caemhan Breac." The Annals of
Tighernach also state, " Mac Nissi, i.e., Aenghus, Bishop of Connor, rested ; whose
father was called Fobrach ; and whose mother was called Cness, was daughter of
Comchaide of the Dal Ceteren, from whom he was named Mac Cneisse." Dr.
Todd places his death in 514 (Introd. to Obits of Xt. Church, p. 73) ; but this is
refuted in notes to Martyr, of Donegal, Public, of I.A.S., p. 232. St. Mac Nisse
was buried in Connor — " Sanctus Mac Cneisi Episcopus, qui jacet in civitate
Connyre, quee est in regione Dalnaraidhe." — (Vit. S. Comgalli, in lib. Kilken.' fol.
90, b. col. 2, and Fleming, Collectan, p. 304). His life is published by the Bollandists
in vol. ist for September, p. 664. He made a pilgrimage to Rome and the holy
places of Jerusalem. He foretold the birth of the great St. Comgall, founder of
Bangor ; his monastery was visited by St. Brigid ; and he trained to virtue St.
Colman, the patron and first Bishop of Dromore. Ward writes, that the Church
of Annatrim, at the foot of Slieve Bloom, in the Parish of Offarlane, Diocese of
Ossory, was dedicated to him. In notes to Martyr, of Donegal (loc. cit.), this
church is said to be dedicated to another St. Caemham Breac, whose feast was
kept on 4th November. Probably, however, the same saint was honoured on
various days in different churches, especially as in some records the 4th of No-
vember was precisely marked as the day of St. Mac Nisse's death. — See Ann. of
Four M., ad an. 513. The original notes to O'Clery's Genealogies mention his
296 A ndenU Monasteries of Ireland.
658. The bishop St. Dima Dubh1* died this year, far ad-
vanced in the vale of life. His festival is held here on the 6th
of January.k
771. Died Anfceally, abbot of Coynre and Lynnealla.1
865. Died Aidhecar,16 abbot of Coynre and Lynnealla,"1 or
Condoire and Lanela ;n he was a bishop and a learned chron-
ologer.
949. Died the abbot Flannagan M'Alchon ;'* he was abbot
also of Muckamore.n n
954. Died Malbrigid, son of Redan, successor to St. M'Nessy
and Colmanell,0 that is, abbot of Connor and Muckamore.
1038. Died Cudenius,18 the professor of Condoire.P
1063. Eochad,i9 another professor, died this year.*°i
^Vard.p. 353, Act. SS. p. 16. ' M'Geog. mld. Act. SS.p. 784. ^^M'Geogh.
-Act. SS. p. 387. Tr. Th.p. 632. */</.
feast as kept on 2Oth January and 3rd September. His genealogy is thus given : —
" Mac Nise, the son of Fobriac, the son of Ere, the son of Fiacca, the son of Mael,
the son of Carthargh, &c., of the race of Eatach Mac Muireadha." It was not
unusual in the earlier Christian annals of Ireland to introduce in such genealogies
the mother's name instead of that of the father. Thus, Muirchertach Mac Ere was
so called from his mother, Earca ; and Fergus Mor was also called Mac Mise^ in
accordance with his mother's name.
On the death of Dermot, King of Ireland, in 558, his body was interred in the
monastery of Connor, whilst his head was conveyed to Clonmacnoise.
The Ann. of Four M. also record the destruction of Connor by fire in A.D. 612,
audits plunder by the Danes in 831. It continued thenceforward for many years
a stronghold of the northern pirates. Twice it was plundered by the Irish chief-
tains whilst seeking to rid themselves of such marauders, viz. : — by the King of
Ailech,in 960, and by the King of Ulidia, in 968. In 1315, it was the theatre of
a great battle, in which Edward Bruce was victorious, and large booty of " corn,
flour, wax, and wine," rewarded the victor.
In Notes and Queries (2nd series, vol. 3. p. 217), a letter from Belfast, written
in 1820, gives the following intelligence : — " On opening the vaults where stood
the cloisters of the old Catholic Abbey of Connor, the workmen discovered an
oaken chest, whose contents on being opened proved to be a translation of the
Bible in the Irish character, and several other MSS. in that language." Some
of these MSS. being examined proved to be bardic poems, translated at Connor by
an Irish Friar, named Terence O'Neal, in 1463.
15 The Ann. of F. M. in A.D. 658, place the death of "Dioma Dubh (i.e.,niger),
bishop of Connor, on the 6th of January." The Martyr, of Don. adds, " Diomma
Dubh, bishop of Connor. I think that this is the Dioma Dubh, son of ^Enghus,
son of Cairthenn Finn, son of Bloid, son of Cas, &c., who is of the race of Cormac
Cas, son of Oilill Oluim. I think that he is the Dima to whom Declan was sent
to be educated. — Vit. Decl. cap. 5, A.D. 658." St. Dioma was one of those to
whom the letter was addressed from Rome on the Paschal Controversy in the year
640.— (Bede, HisL EC. ii. 19.)
16 In Ann. of F. M. at' A.D. 865, " Oegedchar, abbot of Connor and Lan-Ela,
bishop and scribe, died."
17 " Flannagan, son of Alchon, Coarb of Mac Nissi and of Colman-Ela, died A.D.
952." Ibid. The Ann. of Ulster place his death in 953.
18 " Cuinden, bishop, abbot, and lecturer of Connor, Coarb of Mac Nisse, and
Colman-Ela, died." — (Ann. of F. M. ad an. 1038.)
1B A.D. 1063. " Eochaidh O'Dallan, Airchennech of Connor, died." (Ibid.}
20 In addition to the names mentioned in the text we find the following : —
" A.D. 725. St. Dochanna, the devout, bishop of Connor, died on the I5th of
( To be continued. \
[NEW SERIES]
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
APRIL, 1869.
MONASTICON HIBERNICUM;
OK,
A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT
MONASTERIES OF IRELAND.
[N.B. — The text of the ' ' Monasticon" is taken verbatim from Archdall: the notes
marked with numbers are added by the Editors. ]
D.
COUNTY OF ANTRIM.
'OMNACHBRUIN31 was built by St. Patrick, in the terri-
tory of Hy-tuirtre.r »
Now unknown.
*A small territory on the eastern bank of Lough- Neagh. ' Tr. Th. p. 182.
(Continuation of Note ?o, from page 296.)
May. — (Ann. of F. M.) "He was of the race of Eoghan, son of Niall." —
(Martyr, of Don.)
" A.D. 896. Tiopratte, son of Nuadhat, Abbot of Connor, Lann-Ela, and Laith-
rech-Briuin (i.e., Larabryne), died." — (Ann. of F. M-) As this abbot was son of
Nuadhat, to whom Maynooth (i.e., Magh-Ntiadhaf) belonged, we may understand
how it was that he held the church of Larabryne, near Maynooth, at the same
time with his own See of Connor.
" A.D. 917. Maolene, son of Maolbrigid, Abbot of Lann-Ela and Connor, and
ornament of Ireland, died." — (Ibid.')
" A.D. 963. Joseph, Coarb of Mac Nisse and of Colman-Ela, died."— (Ibid.)
"A.D. 974. Conang, son of Finan, Abbot of Connor and Lann-Ela, died." — (Ibid.)
The "Annals of Ulster" place his death in the same year, and style him " Coarb of
Mac Nisse and of Colman-Ela.''
" A.D. 1038. Maolmartan Cam, lecturer of Connor, died." — (Ann. of F. M.)
"A.D. 1081. O'Robhartaigh, Archinnech of Connor, inpenitentia decessit" — (Ann.
of Ulster.) The "Ann. of F, M." call him " Archinnech of Louth."
VOL. V, 2Q
Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
Domnachcoinre was built by the same saint in Cathrigia, or
Machaire dna Morna.' Colgan thinks it probable that this
was the church now called Kildomnach. The two Saints
Conann are patrons of it.u
This is also unknown.
Domnachcombttir, or Commor, was built by the same saint ;«*
it seems to be a parish church in the diocess of Connor, now
called Magh-combuir.w
It is now unknown.
DomnachfotJtairbe was founded by St. Patrick in Hy-tuirtre.x
Unknown.
Domnachlibeir was also built by him in the same territory ?
Unknown.
Domnachmbelain, built by the same saint in that territory.2
Also unknown.
M territory in Dalriedia. - Tr. Th. p. 182. "Id. Act. SS. p. 375, 378.
«7h Th. p. 183. * Id. 'Id.
" A.D. 1117. Flann O'Scula, Bishop of Connor, died."— (Ann. of F. M.)
" A.D. 1124. St. Malachy O'Morgair is ordained Bishop of Connor." — (Ibid.}
His translation to Armagh is subsequently mentioned at the year 1 132. " Malachy
O'Morgair was elected Coarb of Patrick at the prayer of the Ecclesiastics of
Ireland."
" A.D. 1174. Maolpatrick O'Banan, Bishop of Connor and Dalaradia, a man to
be venerated, full of sanctity of life, gentleness, and purity of heart, died in a good
old age in Hy-Columcille."— (Ibid. ) This bishop attended the Synod of Kells in
the year 1152. For some other bishops of this Diocese, see infra at Linnally and
Muckamore. The episcopal succession in later times will be found in Reeves (Ec.
Antiq. of Down and Connor, p. 256), and in " Irish Eccles. Record," vol. i. p. 262.
The boundaries of the Diocese of Connor as fixed by the Synod of Kells, com-
prised the present Dioceses of Down and Connor and Droniore and the north-east
part of Derry. They extended " from Beann-Fhoine (i.e., Ben-Evenew, a moun-
tain on the east side of Lough Foyle,) to Torbhuirg (i.e., Torr-head, in the county
Antrim) ; from Port-Murbhuilg (now Maghera, at the foot of Slieve Donard,
in the county Down,) to Ollarbha (now the Larne Water, in Antrim) ; and from
Cuan-snamha-aighneach (the ancient name of Carlingford-Loch) and Gleann-Righe
(the valley of the Newry river) to Colbha-Gearmann (i.e., German's pillar, not yet
identified)." — See "Cambrensis Eversus," edited by Rev. M. Kelly, vol. 2nd, p. 786.
21 Colgan was unable to identify this church, which is called " Domnnch-brain"
in St. Patrick's Life. — (Tr. Th. p. 184, n. 233.) Dr. Reeves refers to the similarity
of name with Donnabaran in the Deanery of Tullaghoge, mentioned in Swayne's
" Register," fol. 60 (loc. cit. p. 294).
22 The "Vita Tripartita " of St. Patrick narrates how Conla, the son of Coelbadh,
offered a large tract of land (insignepradium), on which he erected the Monastery
of Commor.—(Tr. Thaumat. p. 147.) Jocelyn, in the parallel passage, states
that St. Patrick erected a church there, at a place called Elom, and that the church
was called " Domnach-Combuir; " and Colgan adds the following note: — " Hodie
sine addito vocabulo, Comur est nobile Coenobium Dieecesis Dunensis et Connor-
ensis" (p. 114, col. 2). ' The " Annals of Ulster" record, at the year 1031, that
Mac Eochaidh led an army as far as Iveagh, burned Kill- Cumbair with its oratory,
killed several of the clergy, and carried away thirty captives. The name Comber
means a confluence, and in the present instance it marks the townland where the
river Enler enters Strangford Lough, in Co. Down. Muckamore, i.e., Magh-
Comutr, "the plain of the confluence," is situated at the junction of the Six-
Mile-Water with Lough Neagh. For further notes on the Monastery of Comber,
or Commor, see under this head in county Down.
The County Antrim. 299
Domnachmor, in Magh-damhorna,23 in Dalrieda. St. Patrick
built a church here ; it is, as Father Colgan observes, either
the chapel called Kildomnach, or the parish church called
Rathmor.a
Domnachriascaigh^ was built by St. Patrick in Hy-tuirtre.b
Unknown.
Domnachrighduin, another church founded there by the
same saint.c
Unknown.
Domnachsainre?* founded there also by St. Patrick.d
Unknown.
Drmmindeichfb in Dalrieda : this abbey owed its erection
likewise to that saint, about the year 460. He placed St.
Enan over it.e
Unknown.
Drum La Croix?"1 in the diocess of Connor ; an abbey was
founded here for Premonstrant or White canons ; it was a
daughter of the abbey of Drieburgh in Scotland ;f see GOOD-
BORN.
Gleanindeachtaf* in the territory of Trian-Conguill; this valley
* Tr. Th. p. 183. b Id. ° Id. &Id. 'Act. SS. p. 747. *Le Page, quoted ly
Allcmande.
23 Magh-damhorna formerly gave name to a Deanery in the Diocese of Connor;
it is now confined to a portion of the parish of Glynn, a little to the south of
Larne. It is remarkable as having been the birth-place of the great St. Comgall.
See Reeves' " EC. Antiq." p. 269.
21 This is the modern Donaghrisk, in the parish of Desertcreat. In the taxation
of Armagh Diocese, in A.D. 1291, the name of this church is given as Donagh-
beresca; in the later Registers it is called Domnaghreasca and Downaghryske. The
" Dungannon Inquis." of 1609 represents Donoghreiske as a chapel with two balli-
boes of Erenagh-land attached to it. It was the ancient burying-place of the sept
of O'Hagan.
25 This church is called in the text of Colgan, Domnach-Fainre (Tr. Th. p. 148);
but, by a misprint in the notes, it is called Domnach-Sainre, which name is erro-
neously retained by Archdall. It is now called Donaghenry, and gives name to a
parish bordering on Lough Neagh, in the county Tyrone. In the Registries of
Armagh it is generally written Domnaghfenra and Dompnachfionnray.
28 The " Annals of the F. M. ," at the year 818, record a meeting of the Northern
and Southern Hy Niall at a place called Druim-Indech. Our text, however, proba-
bly refers to the modern townland Drumeeny, in Glenshesk. There is a very ancient
burial ground there called Killeena, near the ruins of an old church. The " Vit.
Trip." states that St. Patrick erected this church in Druimindich, in the region of
Cathrigia, i.e., Carey, in the neighbourhood of Bally castle, and that he gave it in
care to St. Enan. — (Tr. Th. p. 146.) Killeena is in the parish of Ramoan; two
old tombstones from the burial ground have been preserved, one with a crucifix
carved on it, the other with a cross ; we will again meet with St. Enan, infra at
"Rath-Modhain."
27 This monastery is supposed to have stood about half way between Belfast and
Carrickfergus, in the parish of Carnmoney, where now stand the ruins of " White
Abbey." There is a plan of this abbey in Benn's "History of Belfast," p. 265.
Some antique bronze ornaments, including a crucifix, were found near this spot
some years ago. — (Reeves' Eccles. Antiq., p. 277.)
28 This name is written Gleann-Fineachta in an old Irish verse preserved by
Usher (opp. vol. 6, p. 146). It is now called Glynn. The rains of the old
church occupy a picturesque spot at the river side? in a shady glen.
300 A ncient Monasteries of Ireland.
still retains this name, says Father Colgan, in the diocess of
Connor. St. Patrick founded a church or abbey in that part
of the glin which is called Machaire-morna, or Mudhorn.e
Glenarm^ on the sea-coast, gives name to the barony. A
monastery was built here, for Franciscan Friars of the third
order, in the year 1465, by Robert Bisset, a Scotchman.11
This monastery, and the lands belonging thereto, were
granted to Alexander M'Donnell, ancestor to the Earls of
Antrim.1
There are still some remains of this building on the bay of
Glenarm.k
GhtairefP in the territory of Latham, in Dalrieda. St.
Patrick built a church here, in which rests St. Molassius.1
Unknown.
Goodborn, or Woodbornp- not far from Carrickfergus ; a
'Tr.Th. h Allemande. * Harris Tab. * Pocockf s Journal. ! Tri. Thau. /. 147.
29 Besides the Franciscan Abbey, the ruins of other ancient religious institutions
are met with in Glenarm. Thus, there are the ruins and cemetery of St. Mary's,
on the brink of a stream within the Glenarm demesne. Of another church
Reeves thus writes : " In Bridge-street was formerly an ancient chapel, the ruins
of which were removed to make way for the ornamental school-house which
now stands there. There was a burying-ground attached to it, which is now
converted to other purposes. . . The name of this chapel is now forgotten." —
(Ibid. p. 299.)
30 The old churchyard of Tickmacrevan, near Glenarm, is to the present day
called Glare, and it retains the ruins of an ancient church, popularly called " St.
Patrick's Church."
31 The Abbey de Goodborn, or Woodborn, took its name from the river Wood-
burne, on the left bank of which it stood, about half a mile to the west of Carrick-
fergus. It was commonly known as " St. Mary's Abbey." Gillerath MacCourath, or
MacCura, was the last abbot. On the confiscation of the abbey lands by Henry the
Eighth, he, with the monks, retired to Island Magee, where they died. (King's
"Collect.," p. 256.) The Franciscan, Edmund MacCana, who visited these
districts about the year 1640, has left the following interesting details regarding
this monastery : — " At three or four miles distance from Belfast, on the north, is
an ancient monastery of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, commonly called
White- Abbey, in Irish, Mainister-Fhionn, of which some portion of the walls and the
rubbish are all that is now to be seen. What were its possessions is now forgotten
through the troubles of the times. Not far from this is a chapel which was
occupied by some monks; but to what religious house or order it belonged I could
not tell, unless I were to conjecture. In Irish it is called Kill~na-manach, that is,
' Church of the Monks.' A portion of the walls of the chapel remains. I may,
however, venture the guess that it belonged to the monastery of Goodburn, which
is about two miles distant to the east, near the town of Karrick-fergus, on the bank
of the river Good-burn, and only one mile outside Karrick-fergus on the west.
Of this monastery of Good-burn not a particle now remains, not even the rubbish;
for, at the very beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, when all things divine and
human were confounded, all the stones of that holy monastery were removed by a
ntizen of Karrick-fergus into the city to build a dwelling house beside the walls of
the castle, which went by the name of the New Works, or, in Irish, Obairnauth ;
but, under the just judgment of God, he was deprived by the governor of the
town of both the house and other premises that were attached to it. Of this sacri-
legious act, and of the merited punishment which was inflicted by heaven, I have
met many eye-witnesses. I have met many persons who, when boys, saw the aged
abbot of that monastery, Maaira by name; but they were not old enough to think
of asking to what order it belonged."
The County Antrim. 301
priory, dedicated to the Holycross, was founded here for Pre-
monstre, or White canons ; it was a daughter of the Abbey of
Drieburgh;01 probably this may be the same with Druim la
Croix before mentioned.
The Bissets, a powerful family in the neighbourhood of
Athol in Scotland, being principally concerned in the murder
of Patrick Earl of Athol, were obliged, in the year 1 242, to
abandon their country and take shelter in this kingdom.11
Alan de Galvia, Duncan de Carrig, and the Bissets from
Scotland, had lands given to them here by King Henry III.0
Some of these probably founded this priory in atonement for
the murder of that Earl.
In 1326, friar Roger Outlaw, prior of the Hospital of Kil-
mainham, and Lord Chancellor of Ireland, granted a .lease of
certain lands to Longadel Manster, and dates the grant, apud
abbatiam de Woddeborne.P
Gillerath M'Cowagh, the last abbot, resigned into the hands
of the king's commissioners, on the 1st day of March, 1542, the
34th year of King Henry VIIT.i The abbot was then seized
of a certain parcel of land lying round the priory, and of the
rectory of Entroia, and the tithes of sixteen townlands belong-
ing to the rectory of Killaboy in the Reuts/ the rectories of
Cnplille and Cormony, in the same country, and the tithes of
two townlands in the island of Magee, viz., Ballyprior magna,
and Ballyprior parva.8
Inquisition 1 2th November, I2th King James, finds, that
Gillerath M'Cowragh, the last abbot, was, 1st February, 32nd
King Henry VIII. , seized of this abbey, and a cartron of land
circumjacent to the same ; also of acres of land, and the
tithes thereof, the rectories of Entroia, and the tithes of sixteen
towns belonging thereto; the rectories of Killalog in the
Reuts ; ; Cnolill and Carmony ; the tithes of
three towns in the said parishes ; and the tithes of the towns
of Balleprior-magna, and Balleprior-parva, in the island of
Magee ; the whole of the annual value, besides reprises,
of I or. — (Chief Remembrancer.)
Imleackcluann, in the territory of Semne, in Dalaradia.3* St.
Patrick built an abbey here for St. Coeman ; Colgan supposes
it to be the same as Kil-chluana, or Kil-choemhain in Hy-
tuirtre.1
Now unknown.
mWar. Mon. *Ridpath's Border History, p. 136. "War. Man. ^King's Collect.
p 6 1. *Id. p. 256. * Reuts, a district on the north-west and part of the south of
the county of Antrim. 'Kings Collect, p. 61. *Tr. Th. p. 177,283.
32Semhne is the old name of Island Magee.— See Reeves' " Adamnan." p»
374, «•
3O2 Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
Kelts or Disertp four miles north of the town of Antrim.
Kellach, son of Conmagius, an anachorite of Disert Kellaigh,
died in the year 828." A priory for regular canons was erected
on the site of this ancient cell, under the invocation of the
Virgin Mary,w before the arrival of the English in this kingdom,
by O'Brian Carrog.x
Murtagh M'Annullowe was the last abbot, and on the ist
of February, 1542, he surrendered' it, being then seized both
of the cures and profits of eight townlands circumjacent to the
priory, viz., Ballytollymollan, Ballymacevanghe, Ballickvel-
drome, Ballyfugaske, Ballycreaghey, Ballywillie, Harryltye,
Ballyserensuer ; the impropriate rectory of Dunnyen, &c., and
Drumarde, in Lefraghe, the impropriate rectory of - ,
and Roisroilick, in the Reuts, the tithes of Templemotragh,
near Glenarm, and of Kilkeran, in the island of Magee.y
Inquisition I2th November, 1st King James, finds, that
Murtagh M'Millour was the last abbot; and, 32nd King
Henry VIII., he was seized of the said abbey, also of the
following townlands, both in temporals and spirituals, circum-
jacent to the abbey, viz.: Ballytollymollan, Ballymacruaghye,
Ballyckvelduome, Balleyfugaske, Ballycreaghe, Ballyvillye,
Hanultye, and Ballyferrensuer ; also the rectories of Dunyon
and Drommelde in the Fews — - ; Foisroileke in the
Reuts; Temple Motraghe, near Glenarm ; and Kilkevan, in
the island of Magee ; the said lands and rectories being of
the annual value, besides reprises, of 42^. — (Chief Remem-
brancer.)
Kilboedain^ which was afterwards named KILOSCOBA, was
tp. "War. Mm. *Allemande. 'King, p. 226.
Disert- Kellaich, now Kells, is about half a mile west of the church of Connor.
It seems to have been, from the earliest times, connected with the monastery of<St.
Mac Nisse, in Connor. Indeed, nearly all the great religious institutions of our
early church had, at a short distance, a sanctuary of special retreat and closer soli-
tude, whither the religious might retire at intervals to devote themselves to special
practices of perfection. A passage in the life of St. Mac Nisse seems to refer to
the Disert of which we speak : — " Fluvio nomine Ckuri, monasterium ejus, quod
latine Desertum dicitur, praeterfluenti, ne sonitus ejus tarn prope transeuntis
infirmos loci molestaret, per ulteriorem viam currere prascepit; quod continuo, ut
ei imperatum est, itxti.."— (Holland, Septemb. vol. i. p. 665.) The river Chtiri
here spoken of, is the Glan-curry which gives name to the valley of Glen-wherry :
it winds around the old abbey of Kells to the north, and, under the name of the
;' Kells Water," falls into the river Main, at a place called Ballyandraid. An
"Abbas de Disert " appears attesting a deed of confirmation to the prior of
Nendrum, about the year 1190.— Cotton, " Charters," Brit. Mus. No. 40.
In a charter of Hugh de Lacey, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, men-
tion is made of Kill-Bodan in the Ards. There is, however, another church called
Stlvodan, m Irish,"Siol-Bhaodain," i.e., the progeny of Boedain. From Silvodan was
formed the modern Silwooden. Colgan thus gives, from an old life of St. Boedan, the
history of the foundation of this church :— " Sanctus Boedanus sive Boetanus,
sextus Eugenii filius intelligens quam prospere res successissent suis fratribus S.
The County Antrim. 303
founded by St. Boedain, after the beginning of the 6th century ;
this saint quitted this church, and betook himself to the
church of Moinmor, in the south of Munster, his native
country.2
Now unknown.
Kitteaspuicbolcain, in the Reuts, not far from Airther-
muighe.*35 St. Bolcain, or Olcain, a disciple of St. Patrick,
built this church.b
Kilglais, in Dalaradia,c was built by St. Patrick for St.
Glassian.d 3<5
Now unknown.
Kilitmgk, four miles south of Ballintoy, in the barony of
Carye. St. Patrick built Cuileachtrann, and made Fiachrius
the bishop of it. Colgan says, that it is now a parish church,
and named Cuilechtra, in the territory of Cathrigia.ef
*Act, SS.p. 728. "See Rathmuighe. * Tr. Tk. p. 377. ' Dalaradia compre-
hended the south and soiith-east parts of the county of Antrim, since called Clanebois,
and all the county of Dcnvn, extending from Newry to the mountain Mis, in the
barony of Antrim. d Tr. Th. p. 182. "Id. s Cathrigia is in the Reuts.
Cormaco et S. Diermitio, eos sequutus est ad partes Leth-Connise seu Aquilonares
Hiberniee. Et postquam aliquamdiu cum eis mansisset, contulit se ad remotiores
Ultonise fines ; ubi a nobili stirpe Sodani, Fiaco Aradio nati, in partibus Dalara-
dise tune rerum potiente honorifice et devote susceptus. Ibi extruxit Ecclesiam
ex ejus nomine Kill-Boedain nuncupatam, quam agris et possessionibus dotarunt
posteri Sodani, et prsecipue nobiles familiae de Cinel-Decill, Clann Scoba, et Sil-
Noiridhin, quae se suosque posteros ei, ut patrono, devotos clientes consecrarunt.
Temporis vero successu familia de Cinell-Decill, a viro sancto deficiens, convertit
suam devotionem et afFectum in S. Cuanum et S. CoLnanum sua eis obsequia et
clientelam addicens. Duae aline jam memoratse familise remanserunt viro Dei
devotae donee tandem nepotes Tomultacii, contra eum tumultuantes, non solum
locum sanctum invaserunt suique juris fecerunt, sed et nomen aliud indiderunt,
Ecclesiam prius Kill-Boedain appellatam, postea Kill-Oscoba appellari curantes."
— (A eta SS. p. 728.)
Airther-muighe, i.e., "the eastern plain," gave name to the modern village of
Annoy. It is situated in the barony of Carey, and its round tower still marks the
site of the ancient monastery. Till a comparatively late period it seems to have
been a parochial church, and in the taxation of 1306 we find the entry — " The
Church of Ethirmoy, ^4 1 1 s. 4<£" The " Annals of the Four Masters" record
the fact of the burning of Airther-muighe by Cumee O'Flynn, in 1177, during an
expedition of John de Courcy. Seventy years later the name again appears in
connection with a predatory excursion of Eachmarchach O'Kane. The foundation
of the church by St. Patrick is referred to the year 474. The "Tripartite Life"
relates that our Apostle having baptized Olcan, and seeing his great progress in
piety and learning, placed him as bishop over the church of Rathmugia, or Airthir-
mugia, the chief town of the Dalredini. This church is called Dercan by Jocelyn,
who adds that St. Olcan, being made bishop there, " persevered in sanctity and
justice" (chap. 137). Usher, after mentioning this fact, adds that the church
was situated in the Route in Antrim, and was still called Clon-dercan, i.e., the
"plain of Derkin " (opp. vi. 518). With this place is connected a very sin-
gular fact in the life of our Apostle. The bishop, St. Olcan, having incurred the
displeasure of St. Patrick, by receiving into communion Saran, an excommuni-
cated prince of Dalaradia, showed his sorrow for his offence by prostrating himself
before St. Patrick's chariot. Olcan himself, however, was happily preserved
unhurt, but St. Patrick prophesied that in punishment of his fault his church of
Annoy should be three times desecrated and plundered.
36 The "Martyrology of Donegal," marks the feast of St, Glasan on the 1st of
October.
304 A ncient Monasteries of Ireland.
* Kilruaidhp in Dalaradia, near Loughneagh. St. Colman
is' the patron saint, and his festival is kept here on the i6th of
October.^
Now unknown.
Lambegp near Lisburn. M'Donnell built a small monastery
here, in the I5th century, for Franciscan Friars of the third
order.h
Lhannawchj® or the Church of the Dwarf, in the diocess of
Tr. Tk. /. 756. h War. Mon.
37 Kill-Ruaidh, called in mediaeval records, Kilroigh, Kilruaigh,^ Kilroe, and
Kilrothe, gave name to the present parish of Kilroot. The " Felire " of ^Engiis
mentions St. Colman in connection with this church on the i6th of October :
" Colman of Kill-Ruaidh," and the " Gloss" adds : "/>., Colman, bishop, son of
Cathbadh, of Kill-Ruaidh, on the bank of Loch-Laig, in Ulidia j" and the
" Martyrology of Donegal" also writes, on the same day : " Colman, bishop of
Kill-Ruaidh, in Dal-Araidhe, on the brink of Loch Laoigh, in Uladh." Lough-
Laoigh was not Lough-Neagh, as Archdall supposes, but the modem Belfast
Lough. See above, note (7). Close upon its Antrim coast, in the townland
Kilroot) is a churchyard of the same name, which still retains some traces of the
ancient church. From the " Life of St. Mac Nisse" we learn that St. Colman
was still a boy whilst this saint was bishop of Connor. He is there called
" Colmanus Episcopus, qui Ecclesiam nomine Kellruaid fundavit" (Ada SS.
Bolland, Sept. I, 665) ; and the learned Franciscan, Ward, adds the note : " S.
Colmanus fuit Episcopus Kill-Ruadhensis, quae nunc obsoleta sedes est in
Aradeorum regione (i.f., Dalaradia) ad oram stagni Juvenci vulgo Loch-Laodh in
Ultonia ubi ejus festum tamquam patroni colitur xvi. Octobris." The " Annals of
the Four Masters " and the " Annals of Ulster" record, at 1122, that Connor Mac
Lochlin, with an army from Tyrone, laid waste " Kill-Ruaidh, in Ulster," and
carried away great spoil.
From the " Life of St. Ailbhe, of Emly" we glean .a few interesting particulars
regarding the first foundation of this ancient church. It is stated there that, " St.
Ailbhe, like an industrious bee with its load of honey, returned from Rome, under
the Divine guidance, to his native Ireland. And when he arrived at the sea he
blessed it, and, with a breathless calm, he and his whole company crossed its
waters in a frail ship uninjured, and landed on the north coast of Ireland. And
there, at Ailbhe's order, one of his disciples called Colman, founded a church
named Cill-ruaidh. And whereas the spot was unprovided with fresh water, St.
Ailbhe blessed a stone, in the name of God omnipotent, and forthwith there gushed
from it a stream of water. Then said St. Colman to Ailbhe, " The water is
scanty ;" to whom Ailbhe replied : " Though the water is scanty, it will never
fail; but will be a running stream as long as the world lasts." Therefore the name
of the stream is called JBuanan Cylle Ruayd, i. *?., the " Unfailing Stream of Kill-
ruaidh."— (Codex Kilken. Marsh's Libr. fol 136, b). The Irish Franciscan,
Father MacCana, visited the spot about 1640, and closed his " Itinerary" with the
following note regarding it: — "Not far from Carrickfc.gus, on the east, is the
church of Kill-ruaidh, which the English call Killread. In all times it was
celebrated, and, even in my time, and that of my forefathers, it was always one
of the residences of the bishops of Connor. The church was endowed in former
ages with very ample possessions, and, even in my day, it was provided with no
mean appurtenances. Of this place mention is made in the ' Life of St. Albeus. ' "—
(See Ulster Journal of Arch, ii, 59.)
38 In an Inquisitio of James the First we find Tullynasaggart as an alias for
;« Lambeg." In a confirmation of grants to the bishopric of. Down, compiled in
the fifteenth century, Landebeg is used to designate the modern Lambeg.— Reeves,
loc. cit. p. 172.
39 In early documents it is called Lenavy, Lunavy, Lynavy, Lennewy, and
ulanawy. It is the present G&tttfz/jyand gives name to a parish in Antrim. In
The County Antrim. 305
«
Connor, was founded by St. Patrick for Daniel, his disciple,
who was very low in stature.1
It is now a parish church.
Linn.^ St. Darerca, sister to St. Patrick, was abbess of a
nunnery in Linn, a spacious plain near Carrickfergus.k
Now unknown.
Lin-natty.*1 An ancient abbey of this name is placed by
Conry1 expressly in this county.
A.D. 771. Died Anfceally, abbot of Coinre and Lynneally.m
86 1. Died Aidhecar or Egechar, abbot of the same ; he was
a bishop and a celebrated chronologer.11
1 Tr. 1 h. p. 756. k Act. SS. p. 262. ' Answer to Sir Geo. Mackenzie^ a Mss.
"M'Geogh. " Id. and Tr. Th. p. 632.
the Inquisitiones of James the First we find, " Clenough, alias Linawey, in the
territory of Kilultagh," and it was appropriate to the abbot of Bangor. The
" Tripartite Life of St. Patrick" relates that our Apostle built a church, at a place
called in after times Letter- Phadrtdc, " which he entrusted to the care of his disciple
Daniel, who on account of his low stature was called Abhac ; but, on account of
his angelic purity and innocence of soul, was also called Angelus?' — (Tr. Th. p.
147.) It adds that " In eodem loco e terra produxit (S. Patricius) fontem qui ob
multa, quse confert potantibus, sanitatum remedia, vulgo Slan, i.e., sanus, vocatur.
Sed antequam inchoatam ibi fabricam perficeret ibi vir Dei, a Sarano, terrse illius
principe, injecta in eum sacrilega manu ex illo loco violenter ejectus est."
In the same church were preserved the relics of SS. Colma, Bogha, and Lassera,
of whom the " Martyrology of Donegal" relates: "They were three sisters, and
three virgins, of the sept of Comghall, son of Fianghalach, &c. ; and they were
disciples of Comghall of Beannchair ; and according to the poem which begins The
Hagiology of the Saints of Inisfail they are of the Dal m-Buain, of the race of
Eochaidh, son of Muireadhach, or they are at Camus -Comghaill." In the " Felire "
of ^Engus they are commemorated on the same day : " The death of the daughters
of Comghall ;" and the " Gloss " adds: " At Lettir, in Dalaradia, they rest, and it is
from Dalaradia they had their birth." — See their lives in Colgan (Acta SS. p. 471).
A St. Aidant also mentioned in the " Martyrology of Donegal" as venerated in
this church on the 6th of November : " Aidan, son of Colga, at Lann~Abhaic, in
Uladh."'
40 In the " Book of Rights," published by O'Donovan, in 1847, mention is made
of the great territory of Magh-Line and of the offerings from Line, which was
situated there. This was the old deanery of Maulyne, also called Moylinny,
Maghaline, and Maulin. In the ancient " Life of St. Comgall" it is Latinized by
Campus Linice.
41 Lynally is situated in the King's county, not in Antrim, and was formerly called
Lann-Ela. It was founded by St. Colman-Ela, who was a contemporary of St.
Columbkille, and was united at an early period with the monastery of Connor.
Hence the bishops and jbots of Connor are frequently styled "Abbots of Connor
and Lann-Ela." See above, notes 14 and seqq.
Sometimes, however, the bishops and abbots seem to have taken their title
from Lann-Ela alone. Thus, in the "Annals of the F. M.," atA.D. 709, we have,
"Tethgal, Bishop of Lann-Ela, died on the i6th of April." Again, in A.D. 735,
" St. Bran, of Lann-Ela, died ;" and also, at A.D. 884, " Eochaidh, son of
Comgan, Bishop of Lann-Eala, ended his life at an advanced age."
In the "Life of St. Mac Nisse" the following account is given of the origin of the
monastery at Lann-Ela: — " When this saint, on a certain occasion, accompanied SS.
Patrick and Brigid towards Munster, as they passed the spot where subsequently
arose the monastery of Lann-Ela, he stopped there, permitting the others to con-
tinue their journey. St. Patrick, perceiving this, sent for him and interrogated him
as to the cause of his delay. The man of God replied : Over the spot on which I
Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
Massareene*?> gives name to the barony ; a small monastery
was founded here, in the I5th century, for Franciscan Friars of
the third order,0 by O'Neil.P On the 2Oth November, 1621,
it was granted to Sir Arthur Chichester, Baron of Belfast, by
the name of the Friary of Masseryne.i
Muckamore, on the river called the Six Mile Stone, two
miles south of Antrim.
St. Colman Elo, in the year 550, built a noble monastery
here, under the invocation of the Virgin Mary. This saint
was afterwards made Bishop of Dromore, and died on the 7th
of June, or the 2/th of October, A.D. 600, or 610. «
A.D. 949. Flannagan M'Alchon, comorb of M'Nyssy, and
of Colman Elo, that is, abbot of Connor and Muckamore, died
this year.5
954. Died Malbrigid, son of Redan ; he was abbot of
Connor and Muckamore.4
1 133. p Was prior ; he was a subscribing witness to the
charter granted by Sir John de Courcy to the abbey of St.
Patrick at Down.u
This priory was, on its new foundation, dedicated to the
Virgin Mary and St. Colman Elo, and was endowed, after the
invasion of the English, by William Mataland, Stephen de
Sandall, and Gilbert de Croft.w
Inquisition 1 2th November, 1st King' James, finds, that
Bryan Boye O'Mahanlon, the last prior, was seized both of
the spiritualities and temporalities of eight townlands circum-
jacent to the said priory, viz., Ballymorclaire, Ballyshane,
Ochyll, Ballow, Terrograceye, Ballylaghe, and Ballyestiene ;
also of the priory of Masserine, in the townland of Ballow ; also
in the townland or parish of Bellymohellaine ; also in
two townlands, adjoining the woods of Dumwore and Killwood-
Craig, and of the same woods in the Lower Clandeboy, with
• Tr. Th. p. 632. p Allemande. * Lodge, v. \,p. 216, note. " Usher, p. 497 ;
Act. SS. 191; War. Bishops. "M'Geogh. * Act. SS. p. 387. tt Man. AngL v. 2,
p. 1020.. w War. Mon.
stood, I saw the Heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending.
St. Patrick said: We must, therefore, place some holy men there to serve God.
But, he replied, holy Father, if thou permittest, it will not be so. But one who
sixty years hence shall be bora in my family, and who shall be called Colman-Ela,
will found there a noble monastery."— (Boll. Acta SS. Sept. I, 664.)
For the names mentioned in the text, see the notes above at Connor.
42 In a fruit-garden, beside the Six-Mile-Water, and adjoining Lord Massareene's
demesne, are shown some traces of the Friary. The " Inquisition of Antrim,"
1605, finds, that to the Friary of Massareene belonged the townland of Ballydo-
nough, in Ederdowen, and a parcel of thirty acres, south of the river Owen-na-view,
and that near it were the foundations of a castle, called Cloghanmabree, alias Cas-
tlemonybray, then almost prostrate. — Reeves, loc. cit. p. 389.
13 The death of St. Colman-Ela is thus mentioned by the «' Four Masters," at A.D.
610 :— St. Colman Eala, *'.*., Mac-Ui-Selli, abbot, died on the 26th of September,
The County Antrim. 307
all the tithes in the town and lands of Carmevr, Cargrande,
Duach, Salgodan, Ballyrobarte, Killyeneghan, and Killowan,
in the Upper Clandeboye, and two parts of all the tithes of
Magherefergan in the Reuts, and of Kilglarne in the Ardes ;
also the rectory of Whitekirk, in the island of Magee, then in
the tenure of Moses Hill, Esq., and of all the tithes of a quarter
of land called Carrowneghan, in the Upper Clandeboye, in
county of Down ; and of the said priory with all its posses-
sions ; annual value 53^. 8d., besides reprises. — (Chief Remem-
brancer, and King, p. 207.)
On the 3rd of December, the 7th of Q. Elizabeth, 1564, a
return was made that the prior and all his monks were dead.y
This priory was granted to Langford, and Sir Roger
Langford was seized of it in the year 1639.* The grange of
Muckamore is named in the visitation book of the diocess of
Connor.
Ocymild. About the year 1202, William de Burgh granted
y King, p. 207. ' Harris. Tab.
in the 56th year of his age." The " Ulster Annals " have also — " A.D. 610, Quies
Colmani-Elo, sic est in libro Cuanach." The "Annals of Clonmacnoise " mark
his demise in the preceding year, but the " Chronicon Scotorum " refers it to A.D.
6 1 1. Adamnan, in his " Life of St. Columba," more than once mentions this saint,
as in lib. I, cap. 5, where he calls him "Colmanus Episcopus Mac- U-Sailne ;" and
lib. 2, cap. 13, where we find the name, " Colwnbanus filius Beognai f for, Beogna
was the name of St. Colman's father. Colgan, in his " Notes to Adamnan" adds:
" Est hie Colmannus a loco Lann-Ela dicto (in quo monasterium extruxit) vulgo
Colman-Ela : et hinc Latine a multis Colmamlhis appellatur. Vide ejus vitam ad
26. Septembris in qua vocatur filius Beognce ut hie. In ejus genealogia et films
Beognee, et de stirpe Salii seu Salnii, filii Clithradii oriundas fertur." Usher
tells us that according to the ancient " Life of St. Colman-Ela," he died at Linally,
in the King's county, about four miles from Durrow, " inter chorum sanctorum
virorum, sanctissimus senex feliciter ad Christum emisit spiritum." Usher errs, as
does Archdall, in confounding this saint with St. Colman, Bishop of Dromore. — See
Lanigan, " EC. Hist." ii. 308.
The name Muckamore, i.e., Magh-Comair, means " the plain of the confluence;"
and the Monastery of St. Colman was erected in the fertile plain where the " Six-
Mile-Water" falls into Lough Neagh. Jocelyn relates a prophecy of St. Patrick
regarding this monastery : — " One day, when visiting the district of Ulster, which
is named Dalaradia, he passed through a certain place called Mucoomuir : and he
said to those around him : ' Know ye, my beloved sons, that in this spot, a certain
child of life, called Colmanelhts, will build a church, and will gather together
many sons of light and many fellow-citizens of the Angels' " (cap. 96).
The "Ancient Registry" of this monastery, written by Laurentius, who was Prior in
I356, was extant in Ware's time, and his extracts from it are preserved in the British
Museum. Lionel, Duke of Clarence and Earl of Ulster, confirmed, in 1363, the
possessions of" the Prior and Convent of St. Mary de Mukmore, in Ulster, which
was founded by the royal father of Elizabeth, our most beloved Consort." Thus
we have an approximate date of its restoration after the English settlement in
Ulster. The name of the last Prior was Bryan Boy O'Maghallon. In the " Inqui-
sition of Antrim," 1605, and in " Harris's Catalogue," Muckamore is said to have
been a Prior.y of the Regular Canons of St. Augustine. The " Registry of Octa-
vian de Palatio " more clearly defines the matter, when it gives the entry : " Caro-
lus O'Durnan, Prior de Mucmor, ordinis S. Victoris sub regula S. Augustini." —
Reeves^ loc. cit. p. 384. ~ •-
308 Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
the village of Ardirnur, with the church and all its appurten-
ances, to Richard, one of the Monks of Glastonbury, to found
a priory to the honour of God and the Virgin Mary ; which
being done, the place was called Ocymild, and Richard was
appointed the first prior.a It is thus mentioned in the "Mon-
asticon Anglicanum ; " but M. Allemande changes the name to
Drymild, and conjectures that it is in this county ; if Dry mild
be the true reading, we may with some probability suppose it
to be Drumwillen, near Ballycastle.
zn. island in the great Atlantick ocean, two miles
"Ex Johan. Monac. Glast.f. IOI, b; Mon. Angl. v. 2, p. 1025. b This island was
called anciently by the several names of Ricnea, Rechrea, Raclinda, Rachra, Rack-
ryne, Rachraind, Raclina, Rechran, Rechreyn, and by Ptolemy, throughout, Ricina,
attd by the Irish Antiquaries, Roc/irinne, from the multitude of trees -with which it
abounded in ancient times. Usher, Prim. Trias Th.
44 In addition to the many variations of the name of this island given above, we
find it called in mediaeval documents Rachrunn, Rathlin, Racry, Raghery, and
Rauchryne. In modern maps it is generally written Rathlin; but by the natives
of the island, and by those who dwell on the adjoining coast, it is known only by
the name of Raughery. — (Reeves, EC. Antiq. p. 288, seqq.)
As other islands on the Irish coast, and especially Lambay, off the coast of
Dublin, were sometimes designated by the name of Rachlin, it is not easy to
decide, in regard to particular entries of our ancient annalists, which of them are to
be referred to the island of which we now treat. The following events, however,
may, with some certainty, be supposed to have reference to it:— In the " Life of St.
Comgall, of Bangor," it is recorded that he landed on the island of Reachrain, for
the purpose of seeking a solitary retreat there : " Cum sanctus Comgallus cellam
voluisset sedificare in insula nomine Reachrain venerunt triginta milites, et tenentes
manum ejus eum inde expulerunt." — (Fleming, Collectan, p. 311. Codex
Kilken. fol. 93, b.) Again, where Adamnan, in his "Life of St. Columbkille,"
speaks of the danger to which Bishop Coleman was exposed, " inmarijuxta insu-
lam Rechra" (lib. i, cap. 5). The text refers to the dangerous whirlpool off the
north coast of Antrim, known as Coire-Brecainn in ancient times, and called at
the present day Sloghnamorra. Elsewhere Adamnan mentions the island of
Rechra as visited by St. Columba: " Cum vir sanctus in Rechrea hospitarelur
insula " (lib. 2, cap. 41), and there can be but little doubt that he refers to the
same island. St. Columba, on that occasion, healed dissensions that had sprung
up between husband and wife, and the means he had recourse to were charac-
teristic of the saints of our early church. He induced the litigants to observe a
rigorous fast for one day with him, and he passed the whole of the night in
prayer, and when on the following morning he summoned them before him, it was
found that God had changed their hearts, and they lived thenceforward in an un-
interrupted peace. Colgan, on this passage of Adamnan, adds the note: " This is
the island of Rechrea, between Ireland and Scotland, and at the present day, as
for all past times, belonging to Ireland, from which it is separated only by a
narrow strait. It forms part of the county Antrim, the territory of Randal, Earl
of Antrim, who now valiantly defends his hereditary rights and creed against the
enemies of our Faith." — (Tr. Th. p. 384.)
The church over w*iich St. Colman the Deacon presided, seems not to have
been erected in our island, but in Rechra, the modern Lambay. Its foundation by
St. Columbkille is thus recorded in the " Leabhar Breac: " " Columbkille erects a
church on Rachra, in the east of Bregia, and leaves Colman the Deacon in it."
— (Ap. O' Donovan, Irish Gram. pp. 151, 281.) As Bregia was the ancient
name of the territory between Dublin and Drogheda, it is manifest that the place
referred to in this text was the modern Lambay. This, however, would not justify
( To be continued.)
309
THE COMING GENERAL COUNCIL.
II.— PREPARATIONS IN THE EAST.
again do we raise our voice, and with all our soul,
entreat you, advise you, and conjure you to come to this
Council, as your ancestors came to the Council of Florence,
held by our predecessor Eugene IV., that the law of our
former love may be restored, that the peace of our fathers
— that heavenly and salutary gift of Jesus Christ — which
lapse of time has weakened, may gain fresh vigour, and that
thus, after the long night of affliction and the dreary darkness
of so long a separation, the peaceful light of long-wished-for
union may at length shine upon all."
These words of the Papal letter, A rcano divines Providentice,
of the 8th September, 1868, are addressed to the Bishops of the
Oriental churches not in communion with the See of St. Peter.
These churches follow different rites, especially in the obla-
tion of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Oriental rites are
six in number, the Greek, the Armenian, the Chaldean, the
Syriac, the Coptic, and the Abyssinian. The Greek rite is fol-
lowed by the Greeks of Turkey, of the Ionian Isles, and of
Greece ; by the Bulgarians, the Servians, the Wallachians, the
Montenegrins, the Georgians, and the Russians. But although
these nations use the Greek rite, they do not all employ the
Greek language in their liturgy. The Catholic and the non-
united Greeks employ the ancient Greek : the Russians, the
Bulgarians, the Servians, the Montenegrins employ the Slavonic
language : the Wallachians and Georgians their own. The
Ruthenians and the Catholic Bulgarians also use the Slavonic :
the Catholic Wallachians, the Wallachian or Roumanian : the
Melchites, or Catholic Greeks of Syria and of Egypt, the Arabic.
The Armenian rite and language are employed by the
Catholic and by the non-united Armenians of Russia, Turkey,
Persia, Gallicia, and Venice.
The Chaldean is followed by the Nestorians of Turkey,
Persia, and Malabar. These, as well as the Catholic Chaldeans
of Kurdistan and of Persia, celebrate the Holy Sacrifice in the
Chaldean language.
The Syriac rite is followed by the Jacobites of Syria and of
Mesopotamia. The Jacobites employ the Syriac tongue in
their liturgies, as likewise do the Catholic Syrians and the
Maronites, whose rite is, however, different.
The Coptic rite is followed in the Coptic language by the
Catholic and by the non-united Copts of Egypt. These latter
are Monophysites like the Jacobites,
The Coming General Council.
The Abyssinian rite, in the Gheez tongue, is employed by
Catholic and non-united Abyssinians. The latter also are
Monophysites.
It will be seen that, speaking generally, these sects may be
ranged under the three great heads of the Nestorian heresy,
the Monophysite heresy, and the Greek schism. Taken toge-
ther, they contain some seventy millions of Christians, scattered
over Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Greece, Turkey, Persia, and the
Russian Empire. No wonder that the heart of Pius IX. yearns
with fatherly longing after these separated children, who for
so many ages have remained away from their Father's house !
Especially when we consider that the immense majority of
them are ignorant of the reasons why their fathers broke the
unity of the Church, and are, perhaps, unconscious even of
the very fact that they are not at one with their brethren of
the West. In making this fresh exertion to win back to the
one fold these seventy millions of souls, Pius IX. is but fol-
lowing in the footsteps of his predecessors. From the very
commencement the Roman Pontiffs made great efforts to con-
vert the Nestorians and Monophysites. But the Persian in-
vasions, the conquests of the Mussulmans, and the weakness of
the Greek emperors paralyzed their exertions. In the same
way, after Michael Cerularius, in 1054, had renewed the wicked
work of Photius, and made a wall of separation between the
East and the West, the popes earnestly endeavoured to bring
about a union. In 1274 the Council of Lyons, in 1439 the
Council of Florence, addressed themselves to this glorious
task ; and the latter, under Eugenius IV., had the happiness
of welcoming back to Catholic unity not only the Greeks,
but the Armenians, the Jacobites, and the Ethiopians, who
had all been invited to the Council. The cunning malice of
Mark of Ephesus once again broke the union between the
Greeks and the Holy See ; and the fall of the Greek Empire,
and the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, perpetuated
the disunion down to the present day. However, God did
not allow the wickedness of man to undo His work entirely.
Large numbers of the Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, and Copts
persevered in union with Rome ; and from time to time this
little band of faithful souls received a fresh increase in the con-
verts made by the Missionaries, in the East and in Russia. Thus,
in 1595, under Clement VIII., the Lithuanians abjured their
schism, and remained faithful to Rome, until the deceitful
policy of the Emperor Nicholas plunged them once more into
schism in 1839. Kollonies, Bishop of Gran, brought into the
Church one hundred thousand Greeks in Transylvania. In
1552, Soulaka, patriarch of the Nestorians of Chaldea,
The Coming General Council 311
abjured his heresy. Thus, there has been formed in the bosom
of the Oriental rites, two churches, as it were, one, of the
United or Catholic Orientals — the other, the heretical or
schismatical party. The former still preserve their original
rites and languages, and are obedient to the Holy See. In
1853, Pius IX. established for the Catholic Wallachians a
hierarchy of their own, and on that occasion renewed the
constitution of his predecessor, in favour of the Oriental rites.
Soon afterwards the Bulgarian movement towards Rome took
place, a movement of which the history has yet to be written.
In 1862, the Holy Father created a special congregation, under
the direction of Cardinal Barnabo, Prefect of Propaganda, with
authority over all that concerns the rites and discipline of the
Oriental churches. The religious orders have also displayed
great activity in the East. The Jesuits are at present settled
in Palestine and Syria ; the Dominicans at Mossoul ; the Car-
melites at Bagdad ; the Mechitarists in Persia; the Franciscans
in the Holy Land, at Aleppo, and in Abyssinia ; the Lazar-
ists, the Christian Brothers, and the Sisters of Charity, and
those of St. Joseph, at Constantinople, in Egypt, and else-
where. In 1367, on occasion of the Centenary of St. Peter,
the Bishops of the West were delighted to welcome thirty-
four Oriental prelates, including three patriarchs, and seventeen
Armenian bishops.
How has the Papal invitation to the Council been received
by the schismatical bishops of these various Oriental rites ?
We shall begin with the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople,
whose Patriarchate includes more than eighty archbishops,
who, in turn, govern about one hundred and seventy bishops :
On Saturday, I5th October last, Don Carlo Testa, Vicar-
General of the Apostolic Delegate, Mgr. Paolo Brunoni, in the
absence of that Prelate, waited upon the Greek Patriarch at his
residence at the Fener, to present formally the Pope's Ency-
clical. He had already sent two of his priests to arrange the
hour of the visit, and was accompanied by the Delegate's
chancellor and by two other ecclesiastics. On his arrival he was
received with the usual Oriental formalities by the Proto-syn-
cellus, or Vicar, and by him was conducted to the Patriarch, who
addressed him in a friendly manner. A copy of the Encyclical
was then presented to the Patriarch. It was splendidly bound
in crimson morocco, with this inscription : — Sanctissimo Pa-
triarchce Novce Romcz Grczci Ritus de mandato Beatissimi
Domini Nostri Pii Pap<z IX., pro Revmo. A rchiepiscopo Vicario
ae Delegate Apostolico C. Testa, V. G. The Patriarch did not
receive the document into his hand, but motioned that it
should be laid on the divan, He then made a short address
The Coming General Council.
in Greek, which the Proto-syncellus interpreted in French,
When this was concluded, the Patriarch gave a signal, upon
which he took up the Pope's Encyclical and replaced it in the
hands of the Latin Vicar-General. This latter, having bowed
to the Patriarch, then took his departure.
The substance of the Patriarch's reply was this: — "It is use-
less that I should go to a Council in which the discussions so
often fruitlessly undertaken before, can only divide men's
minds still more. The Oriental Church will never abandon
the doctrine it has received from the Apostles, and which has
been handed down by the Holy Fathers and the General
Councils. It is true a union did take place at the Council of
Florence ; but it was the result of political pressure, and was
resisted by the whole of the Eastern Church. We are quite
tranquil in conscience." The Proto-syncellus added, that the
Greek Church would not recognise the monarchy assumed
by the Pope over the entire Church, nor his infallibility, nor
his supreme power over General Councils.
From this reply, and from the official remarks which were
appended to it in the public journals, it is plain that the
Patriarch's uncourteous refusal is based upon the assertion that
the union between the churches consummated at the Council
of Florence was the result of force, and brought about in spite
of the protests of Mark of Ephesus and of the entire Oriental
Church. Fortunately, the acts of the Council are there to
show that the deliberations resulted in the full and conscien-
tious adhesion of the Greek bishops to the doctrines proposed
by the Holy See, and which were defined by the entire Council.
The objections of the Greeks were fully discussed and answered
to the complete satisfaction of the objectors. It is enough to
quote here the letter written by John, Patriarch of Constanti-
nople, twenty-eight days before the Bull of Union was subscribed.
The report had gone out that he was dead ; and when the
bishops hurried to his residence they found him lifeless. He
had been writing, said the servants, the evening before, and as
soon as he had finished the letter he was seized with sudden
illness and breathed his last. The letter was produced, and was
found to be to the following effect : —
"John, by the mercy of God, Archbishop of Constantinople,
the new Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch. Finding myself
at the end of my life, I wish, with God's help, by this letter, to
make known my sentiments to all my beloved children, and
thereby fulfil the duty of my office. All things whatsoever
the Church of ancient Rome, Church of Our Lord Jesus
Christ, Catholic and Apostolic, believes and teaches, the same
I also believe and teach, and to all do I give my fullest assent,
The Coming General Council. 313
I profess that the most blessed Father of Fathers, the Sove-
reign Pontiff and Pope of ancient Rome, is the Vicar of Our
Lord Jesus Christ ; and I admit that there is a Purgatory for
the souls of the departed. Given at Florence, 8 June, 1439."
The Catholic public of England has recently been scanda-
lized and pained at reading, in a work written by one who calls
himself a Catholic, attacks upon the Church of Rome with
regard to the insertion of the word Filioquevb the Nicene Creed.
It is sad to think that any one could be found to encourage by
such attacks the obstinacy of the Greeks. It will be of some
present advantage to quote here an account of Mark of
Ephesus, and of his behaviour at the Council given by Gregory
the Proto-syncellus, confessor of the Emperor John Palseologus.
Mark boasted, on his return from Florence, that he had re-
duced to silence the Latin bishops. Gregory replied : "The
acts of the Council are there to show who it was that
was reduced to silence. But are not you that Mark who at
Florence was always whispering in our ears — ' Let us go away,
let us go away ? ' You were never done repeating — ' These
Latins are learned, and, what is worse, are terrible at argument.
They were so strong on the addition of the wordFilwgue that we
had no chance with them. What will it be when we come to
discuss the doctrine itself, in defence of which they can cite the
Fathers, who say that the Holy Spirit proceeds also from the
Son? Let us go away, therefore; better go away now, than be
compelled to go away later on in disgrace.' This was what you
were always saying when you found yourself silenced by the
arguments of the Latins." After extolling the learning of
Padre Giovanni, the Dominican, who proved the procession of
the Holy Ghost from the Son by the authority of the Greek
Fathers themselves, Gregory adds : — "But you, unable to bear
the truth, kept crying out that the works of these Fathers had
been tampered with and altered, and this you did with so
much levity that you became the laughing stock of the Coun-
cil, until the Bishops of the remotest France, full of indigna-
tion at the charges brought by you, cried out aloud — ' This
miserable man is a heretic ! Let him be excommunicated for
ever ! He rejects all authority! He does not believe his own
Oriental Doctors ; how then will he treat the Doctors of the
West?' The indignation of these bishops spread through
the entire assembly, and you remained terrified and silent.
" Have you forgotten how, in one of the sessions, you sent
a servant of the Metropolitan of Nicomedia for a manuscript
of St. Basil, containing the passage which begins ' Why is it
necessary?' Either by your directions or through his own
wickedness the servant attempted to hide the truth. He took
VOL. V. f 2 1
The Coming General Council.
the manuscript, and went over to the window with the inten-
tion of erasing the words in question. He marked the leaf
and went off to search for a penknife. But the Spirit of Truth
would not allow the truth to be obscured. A gust of wind
turned over the leaves, and the dishonest man hurriedly can-
celled the words of a passage other than he had intended. He
came back in triumph to the Council to confute the Latins.
You opened the book ; you found the passage untouched, and
with an angry frown you showed it to the servant, who cried
out trembling : ' I swear by your blessing I cancelled the pas-
sage, nor do I know how it comes there/ But there it was,
and you were forced to- withdraw full of confusion. Are you
not ashamed then to assert that you proved the Latin dogma
to be absurd ?"
The death of this Mark was terrible. In 1445, Bartholomew
of Florence, Bishop of Corona, an admirable theologian and
good Greek scholar, was at Constantinople. The Emperor
John Palseologus wished that he should hold a public disputa-
tion with Mark of Ephesus. The result was most unfavourable
to Mark, who was so overcome by shame at the defeat that
had befallen him before the whole city, that he fell sick and
was found dead in his bed within a few days. He died the
shameful death of A rius.
The other Greek bishops appear to have received from the
Patriarch directions to imitate his refusal of the Papal invitation
to the Vatican Council. The Metropolitan of Chalcedonia
returned the document with the words "send it back" written
upon it. The Bishop of Varna refused it saying — "The Bishop
cannot accept what the Patriarch has rejected." The Bishop
of Thessalonia gave five reasons for his refusal, which it is
worth while to mention : — 1°- My Patriarch may punish me if
I accept this invitation. 2°- Why should the Council be held
in Rome and not elsewhere ? 3° The Pope wishes to bring us
to Rome that he may domineer over us. 4°- The Pope is a
king, and carries the sword, which is contrary to the Gospel.
Let him lay down the sword, disband his army, and then we
will join him. 5°- The Roman Church has added to the
Symbol the word Filioque. Let that word be removed, and
the Greeks and Latins will become one. The Bishop of Tre-
bizond, a man of venerable age, received the Holy Father's
Encyclical with every sign of esteem. He clasped it to his
bosom, kissed it, and placed it on his forehead. He looked at
it with greatest care, admiring the Latin letters, which, how-
ever, he did not understand, and exclaimed — " Ah ! Rome !
Rome ! St. Peter ! St. Peter." But he could not be induced
The Coming General Council. 3 1 5
to promise that he would attend the Council, nor, on the other
hand, to decline the invitation. The Bishop of Adrianople
returned the Encyclical, saying — " I wish first to consider the
matter carefully, and to decide for myself."
The laity of the Greek Church does not share the feelings
which dictated this refusal on the part of their bishops. On
the contrary, they blame th£ Patriarch and his suffragans, and
declare that the real reason of the refusal is, that they felt
themselves unable to cope with the Latin Bishops in dis-
cussion.
But, by the Providence of God, the* pride and obstinacy
of the Patriarch of Constantinople was visited with speedy pun-
ishment, and that on the very day which witnessed his con-
temptuous refusal of the Holy Father's loving invitation to
union. On that same day he received from Fuad Pasha,
the Sultan's Minister for Foreign Affairs, official notification
to the effect that the Sultan had sanctioned the separation of
the Bulgarian Church from the Greek Patriarchate ! How
serious a blow this is to the power of the Patriarch will be
understood when we remember that of the five millions of
Christians over whom he rules, the Bulgarians constitute
more than four millions, and that most of the resources of
which the Patriarch disposes were derived from Bulgarian
sources. Nor did either the Bulgarians or the Sultan ask
permission from the Patriarch thus to dismember his Church.
Two plans of dismemberment were proposed to him by Fuad
Pasha, and he was requested to accept either one or other of
them, or to submit a third for consideration. But he was to
bear in mind, that the dismemberment itself was an accom-
plished fact, with which he had no concern. In vain the Pa-
triarch protested, and in vain he appealed in a long letter to
the clemency of the Sultan. He insisted that this was an
affair which could not be decided without a council ; but the
Bulgarians retorted by publishing a document, dated 1767, in
which the Bulgarian Church was declared united to the Greek
Church by the sole act of the Sultan, and without the convo-
cation of any council. In 1767, they say, the Patriarch Sa-
muel declared it to be within the sphere of the Sultan's power
to unite the Bulgarians with the Greeks ; how then can the
Patriarch Gregory, in 1869, say, that the same power cannot
separate what it alone had joined ? And, in fact, the Bulga-
rians have already sung the Te Deum in all their churches,
and have had general illuminations in all their towns, at being
at length freed from the yoke of the Greek Patriarch. They
have seized upon all the churches, and have expelled the
Greek bishops and priests, who are now flocking to Constan-
^ r(5 The Coming General Council.
tinople, to relate to the Patriarch, with tears in their eyes,
their misfortunes and sufferings. It is certainly a wondrous,
retribution, that this blow should have come upon the Greek
Church from those very Bulgarians against whom the Con-
stantinopolitan Patriarch has been plotting ever since the
ninth century, when Nicholas L, through Paul and Formosus,
introduced Bulgaria into the fold of the Catholic Church.
Photius and his successors have never ceased to employ all
the arts that cunning and hatred could devise, to separate the
Bulgarians from the Holy See. Nine or ten years ago there
was a marvellous movement of the Bulgarians towards Rome.
Pius IX. welcomed them to the Church, and with his own
hand, gave episcopal consecration to the archi-mandrite, John
Sokolsky, whom he appointed Vicar- Apostolic of the country.
But when the new prejate had reached Constantinople, on his
homeward journey, he was seized upon, and conveyed on
board a Russian ship, which landed him at Odessa, where he was
imprisoned in the monastery of Kief, within the walls of
which he was so closely guarded, that it cannot be known with
certainty whether he is yet alive.
How many salutary lessons does this history convey ! The
Patriarch who declared that he would not submit to the suc-
cessor of St. Peter, has been forced to humble himself to the
dust before the Turkish Emperor, the sworn foe of the Chris-
tian name. The Patriarch who would not treat of Church
matters with the Vicar of Christ, has been forced to refer
them to the clemency of the Sultan. The Patriarch who
refused to obey the Chief Patriarch of the Church, has wit-
nessed his own suffragans rise in rebellion against himself.
The Patriarch who proudly assumes the title of Ecumenical,
or Universal, lost in one day four millions of subjects, and
must be content to exercise his universal sway over a poor
million of discontented and impoverished slaves. The Pa-
triarch who forbade his bishops to listen to the voice of Pius
IX., calling them to unity, has been forced to hear the
voices of the episcopate of a whole nation raised in rebuke of
himself, and. rebelling against his rule. The Patriarch who
scorned the invitation to a General Council, has declared that
a General Council is absolutely necessary to settle the Bulga-
rian question. Finally, the Patriarch who replied to the
Pope's envoy, that the Orthodox Greek Church would never
cease to hold Apostolic doctrine apart from Rome, on the
same day wrote to the Sultan to say, that the Orthodox
Greek Church would fall into ruin if the Bulgarians were
allowed to shake off their allegiance to Constantinople. History
surely presents few instances of punishment following so
closely after sin as in this case.
The Coining General Council. 317
This has been felt even by the Greeks of Constantinople
themselves, who laugh at the idea of the proposed Greek
' Council. "Already," they say, "the entire universe is preparing
, to celebrate a truly Ecumenical Council. If our Patriarch's
pretensions over the Bulgarians be just ; if there exist just
reasons why he should keep us separated from Rome, why
does he refuse to state these reasons at the Vatican Council ?"
The following is a list of all the Greek and Bulgarian
Bishops to whom, up to the present, the invitation to the
Council has been delivered : —
1. Gregory, Patriarch of Constantinople.
2. The Metropolitan of Chalcedonia.
3. The Bishop of Galata.
4. The Bishop of Pera.
5. The Bishop of Fatavla,
6. The Bishop of Therapia.
7. The Bishop of Adrianople.
8. The Bishop of Rodosto.
9. The Bishop of Erzerum.
10. The Bishop of Trebizond.
11. The Bishop of Varna.
12. The Bishop of Salonicco.
13. The Bishop of Monastir.
14. The Bishop of Brussa.
15. The Bishop of Isle of Princes.
1 6. An Ex-Patriarch, in Isle of Princes.
17. A Bishop, retired in Buyukdere.
1 8. The Metropolitan of Crete.
19. The Bishop of Smyrna.
20. The Bishop of Ephesus.
21. Cyril, Ex-Patriarch of Alexandria.
22. The Metropolitan of Mytelene.
23. The Bishop of Calone.
24. The Bishop of Marmara.
25. The Bishop of Nicomedia.
26. The Bishop of Nicea.
27. The Bishop of Iconium, ^
28. The Bishop of Cesarea.
29. The Bishop of Amasia.
30. The Bishop of Svorniki,
31. The Bishop of Nisis.
32. The Bishop of Gisren.
33. The Bishop of Velissa.
34. The Bishop of Stromiza.
35. The Bishop of Grevenon.
3 1 g The Coming General Council.
36. The Bishop of Castoria.
37. The Bishop of Seron.
38. The Bishop* of Larissa.
39. The Bishop of Janina.
40. The Bishop of Arta.
41. The Bishop of Malko Tirnova.
42. Hilarion, Metropolitan of Bulgaria, head of the Inde-
pendent Bulgarian Church.
43. Dorotheus, Metropolitan of Sophia.
44. Pai'sios, Metropolitan of Vraza.
45. Macarius, Melchite Archbishop of Diarbekir.
We now turn from the Greek Church to the Armenian Church
diffused over Russia, Turkey, Persia, Gallicia, and Venice,
and composed of two communities, one of which is in com-
munion with Rome, the other separated from the Holy See.
To understand the full value of the impression made upon the
separated Armenians by the Papal Letter Arcane Divines
Providenlice, we must go back to the early history of the
Armenian Church. The founder of this Church was St.
Gregory the Illuminator, who, in the times of Pope St.
Sylvester I., baptized King Tiridates II., his Queen, and all
the principal officers of the realm. After establishing monas-
teries and ordaining priests, he made a pilgrimage to Rome.
St. Sylvester gave his apostolic sanction to all that had been
done by St. Gregory, and gave him the title of Catholicus,
which, together with several privileges, was to pass to his
successors. Among these successors was Nierses III., who
lived and died in communion with Rome. In the year 650 this
prelate built the famous monastery of Ecsmiasin, the church
of which covers the spot whereon St. Gregory had been blessed
with a vision of Christ, the name Ecsmiasin being equivalent
to the Latin Descensus Unigeniti. In this monastery the
Patriarchs continue still to live. On festivals, when commemo-
ration is made of the reigning Patriarch, an ancient hymn is
sung to the present day, which runs thus : " Save, O Lord,
the son of thy servant Gregory, who was exalted by the See
of Rome, wherein is placed the foundation 'stone of Holy
Church." Unfortunately, however, the Patriarchs did not
remain united to that corner stone in the faith of St. Gregory.
Some of the Armenians adopted the heresy of Eutyches, but
from time to time resumed communion with Rome. Eugenius
IV., at Florence, addressed to them the famous Decretuin ad
Armenos. The Patriarchs of Ecsmiasin, however, did their
best to prevent the union from taking place, and to break it
when it was consummated. But, as usually happens, schism
The Coming General Council. 319
begat schism. From among their own bishops some rose up
to refuse to them the obedience they had already refused to
the bishop of bishops. The title of Catholicus and the juris-
diction it implied were usurped by others. Especially formid-
able as a rival was the Patriarch Joachim, Bishop of Bursa, in
Bythinia, whom Mahomet 1 1., after the capture of Constantinople,
in 1453, appointed as Patriarch over the Armenian families by
him fixed at Constantinople. The successors of Joachim, as
holding their See in the neighbourhood of the Court, have
always excited the jealousy of the successors of Nierses, who
lived in the remote Ecsmiasin, which is in the hands of
Russia since 1827. And this jealousy between the two
Patriarchs has shown itself in our own day in the relations
subsisting between Kevork IV., Patriarch of Ecsmiasin, and
the Patriarch of Constantinople, and has been developed to a
singular extent on occasion of the invitation of Pius IX.
to the Oriental bishops.
As soon as the earliest rumour was spread abroad that the
Orientals were to be invited to Rome, Kevork IV. sent as his
legate to Constantinople one of his bishops, by name Serkis
Cialalian. But the Pasha who was in charge of home affairs
declared that the presence of a legate from Ecsmiasin could
but interfere with the jurisdiction of the Armenian Patriarch who
lived at Constantinople, and that in consequence he must decline
to receive him in that capacity. But before the legate left the
invitation from Rome was delivered to the various bishops.
The Latin Vicar-General who delivered the Encyclical to
the Greek Patriarch, waited in like manner upon the Patriarchs of
the schismatical Armenians to present the Pontifical invitation.
He was received with every mark of respect. Two prelates,
wearing their robes, met him at the door of the patriarchal
residence, and conducted him with his suite, without delay,
into the presence of the Patriarch, who gave the Vicar the
kiss of peace. The Patriarch, Mgr. Boghos, then took the
letter into his hand, made many inquiries as to the contents
and the persons who had conveyed them to him, and added :
" Formerly the enemies of Christianity were the Pagans ; nov,
they are the bad Christians and infidels. It i» high time for
us all to lay aside our differences and to unite in opposing a
barrier to the impiety which now combats the Church of
Jesus Christ." He said he willingly accepted the letter, but
declared that not he, but the Catholicus of Ecsmiasin, was to
decide whether he was to go to Rome or not. He then in-
vited the Vicar to visit his Church, on leaving which they
were conducted with great formality to their carriage. The
Pontifical letters were also presented to the whole Armenian
320 The Coming General Council.
episcopate obedient to Mgr. Boghos, and many of these
prelates imitated the courtesy of the Patriarch. There was
soon formed among them a party, which was called the Unionist
party ; the members of which met frequently, to deliberate on
the best means of realizing the union they desired. This con-
duct excited the indignation of the more obstinate among the
schismatical bishops, who formed themselves into a party of
opposition. The plans of the Unionists accepted, as the basis
of their union with Rome, the infallible authority of the Chair
of St. Peter; but in other respects they were crude and imper-
fect. Towards the end of December they all assembled at the
residence of the Patriarch, and deliberated on the expediency
of attending the Council. The decision appears to have been
favourable to unity ; for, after their session, they despatched
the Encyclical and the minutes of the meeting to the Catholicus
at Ecsmiasin. The most distinguished among the laity, some of
them high in office under the Turkish government, warmly
seconded this resolution of their bishops. Even Mgr. Serkis
Cialalian, the legate of the Catholicus of Ecsmiasin, appeared
to favour the efforts of the Unionists ; but, as after-events
will show, his sincerity is very doubtful.
The opposition bishops commenced a most violent persecu-
tion against the Patriarch who had received the Pope's Letters,
and carried it so far that he was compelled to insert a letter in
the public journals, to say that, he had not arrogated to himself
the right of accepting the invitation, but that he had referred
the matter to the decision of the Patriarch of Ecsmiasin, ac-
cording to the canons of the Armenian Church.
But the opposition grew every day more and more furious.
The press daily teemed with the vilest attacks against the Ca-
tholics, and the ignorant people were told that the Pope would
make them slaves, and compel them to adopt the Latin rite.
This opposition is the result of Russian intrigue.
The Catholic Armenians, however, were not idle in the mean-
time. They encouraged the Unionists, and published elabo-
rate refutations of the calumnies against Rome. Their bishops
are to meet in synod, to agree upon the matters they are to
lay before th* Council on behalf of the united Armenians.
Two committees, each consisting of eighteen priests, are
engaged in the study of these subjects. The Turkish govern-
ment openly favours the Unionists.
But the attacks of the schismatics, hostile to union, far from
slackening in their violence, became worse since the beginning
of the present year. The populace rose in tumults in several
of the Churches, especially in those where the Patriarch was
present, nor would they allow the usual commemoration of
him to be made at Mass.
The Coming General Council. 321
The Government condemned these proceedings ; but on the
Vigil and on the Feast of the Epiphany the divine service was
interrupted by loud clamours, and so savage was the violence
of the mob that the Patriarch fainted while officiating at the
altar. He became so discouraged that he offered his resigna-
tion to the Government, and this was finally accepted. The
Armenian Bishop of Scutari takes his place until the election
of his successor can be held. Mgr. Serkis Cialalian is straining
eve// nerve to the effect that an anti-Unionist may be chosen
to fill the Patriarchal chair.
Leaving for the present the turbulent Armenians, let us next
consider the state of the Copts in Egypt. There are to be
found in that country "schismatics of all rites, but only the Greeks
and Copts among them have bishops. The Copts have a
Patriarch, who takes his title from Alexandria, where he re-
sides, and fourteen bishops, of whom nine belong to Upper
Egypt, one to Sudan, one to Abyssinia, one to Cairo, and two
to Lower Egypt.
The Catholic Archbishop of Irenopolis, who is Delegate
Apostolic of Egypt and Arabia, was directed by the Holy
Father to present to each of these bishops a copy of the
Encyclical Arcane Divines Providentce. He caused an elegant
translation of the letter to be made into Arabic, and requested
a Catholic Coptic prelate, Mgr. Ibrahim Psciai, Bishop of
Clariopolis, to convey a copy to each of the nine schismatical
bishops of Lower Egypt, whither that distinguished prelate
was about to go on the visitation of his flock.
The Archbishop himself paid a formal visit to Demetrius,
Patriarch of Alexandria, to present him with the Papal Letter.
The Patriarch read the Arabic translation with great interest,
and entered upon a long conversation with his visitor, whom at
the end of the interview he conducted in person to the foot of
the stairs. The points upon which the discussion turned were
those connected with the history of the early. Ecumenical
Councils held in the East, and with the errors peculiar to the
Copts. The Patriarch begged that the conversation might be
renewed on another day, as he was very anxioi*6 to hear the
Archbishop's reasons. He was especially pleased to learn from
his visitor that the Roman Church has successfully repelled
Protestantism, and that so many illustrious and learned Pro-
testants had forsaken their errors, and become Catholics. The
Copts have the greatest horror of Protestantism, on account
of the mischief it is working in Egypt, and especially on
account of its attacks upon devotion to the Holy Mother of God,
322
CIVILIZATION AND ARTS IN ANCIENT IRELAND.
anything of good come from Nazareth?" The
contemptuous scorn contained in the sarcastic query of
Nathanael may be taken as the expression of the English
nation, ancient and modern, for the "mere Irish." Nor is this
stinging estimate of our national character and attainments at
all confined to the animals 'who grope for livelihood in the
mines, or toil at the furnaces of prosperous and proud England.
There seems to be a radical incapacity in the Anglo-Saxon
mind to appreciate and render justice to the Celtic character.
Sometimes the grossest and foulest charges are advanced against
our people. Sometimes the weapon is keener and brighter,
and used so dexterously that, like the lance in the hands of a
skilful surgeon, it leaves a deep incision with a scarcely per-
ceptible trace. Two hundred years ago a resident of London
obtained the post of State Physician in Ireland from the Com-
monwealth. He had purchased, as an adventurer, some lands
in Ulster and Leinster, and thus acquired an interest in this
country. In a work of his, describing the then state of metal-
lurgy in Ireland, he alludes to the inhabitants in these hand-
some terms : — " The old English in Ireland, that is, those who
are come in from the time of the first conquest until the
beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, have been so plagued
with wars from time to time — one while intestine among
themselves, and another while with the Irish — that they could
scarce ever find the opportunity of seeking mines. . . And
the Irish themselves, as being one of the most barbarous nations
of the whole earlh, have never applied themselves to that busi-
ness''1 It was profound worldly wisdom to calumniate and
defame the nation that had been robbed of its soil to enrich
the invader.
Another goodly adventurer of an earlier date was " the gentle
Spenser." He had received upwards of 3,000 acres of the
forfeited estates of the Earl of Desmond. He came to reside
on these vast territories so ruthlessly torn from their noble
owner.
In his " View of the State of Ireland," he first describes the
country itself, in which he had acquired so large a stake : —
"And sure it is yet a most beautiful and sweet country as
any is under heaven, being stored throughout with many
goodly rivers, replenished with all sorts of fish most abun-
dantly ; sprinkled with many sweet islands and goodly lakes,
1 " Thorn's Tracts, ' quoted by Haverty.
Civilisation and Arts in Ancient Ireland. 323
like little inland seas, that will carry even ships upon their
waters ; adorned with goodly woods, even fit for building
of Jiouses and ships, so commodiously as that if some princes
in the world had them they would soon hope to be lords of all
the seas, and ere long of all the world ; beside, the soil itself
is most fertile, fit to yield all kind of fruit that shall be com-
mitted thereunto ; and lastly, the heavens most mild and tem-
perate."
Surely that was too fair a land to leave in the possession of
savages, so Spenser proceeds to slander the despoiled : —
" Marry, these be the most barbarous and loathly conditions
of any people, I think, under heaven ; for, from the time they
enter into that course they do use all the beastly behaviour
that may be ; — they oppress all men — they spoil as well the sub-
ject as the enemy; — they steal — they are cruel and bloody, full
of revenge and .delighting in deadly execution; licentious,
swearers, and blasphemers, common ravishers of women, and
murderers of children." Can the English adventurers hesitate
for one moment to exterminate such vermin ? Such is the
clear drift of the lying statement. But the "gentle" Edward
indicates that this may cost a little trouble : — " Yet, sure they
are very valiant and hardy ; for the most part great endurers
of cold, labour, hunger, and all hardiness ; very active and
strong of hand, very swift of foot ; very vigilant and circum-
spect in their enterprises ; very present in perils, very great
scorners of death, &c."
What wonder that the brave people so maligned should
have risen against the traducer, burned down his dwelling,
and left him no home or refuge in their midst. He had, how-
ever, done his work by bequeathing from his starving bed in
a London garret a legacy of slander to justify the grossest
oppression of our race. Well, we have outlived these lawless
times. The contempt shapes itself now in less revolting forms.
We have no history, says the modern Englishman. No civiliza-
tion, no letters, no arts, except those we learned from "the proud
invader." Before the English came we were ignorant barbarians.
They have imparted to our nation any civilization to which we
can lay claim. Such is the theory of the average Englishman.
Here an issue, which we mean to try, is raised. How far there
is truth in it is worthy of consideration. We hope to meet it
without any exaggerated claims, and to base our refutation on
facts. We deem it the office of true, rational love of country,
to reject spurious pretences, and to state plainly the evidences
of our knowledge of the arts, &c., before the English invasion.
Ridicule is universally recognised as an efficient means of
demolishing a theory. Ill-considered attempts to trace back
2 24 Civilization and Atis
to a pre-Christian period the existence of an advanced know-
ledge of the arts and" sciences in Ireland, afforded a welcome
opportunity to opponents to make our history a laughing-
stock to the cynical. The occasion was readily seized ; our
annals were regarded as possessing as much value as the pre-
dictions of Partridge, the almanack maker, whose death, as to
the day, hour, and circumstances, was so inimitably foretold,
in Partridge's own name and "professional" language, by
Jonathan Swift!
The virulence and bitterness of the attack upon our nation,
so long the best abused in the world, may be well judged of
by the following passage of Pinkerton : —
" The contest between those Irish writers and the literati of
Europe is the most risible in the world. The former say,
their country was highly civilized, had letters and academies,
as the Greeks and Romans. The latter say, the Greeks we
know, and the Romans we know, but who are ye? Those
Greeks and Romans pronounce you not only barbarous, but
utterly savage. Where are your authorities against this ? In
the name of science, of argument, of common sense, where are
the slightest marks of ancient civilization among you ? Where
are ruins of cities ? Where inscriptions ? Where ancient
coins ? Where is the least trace of ancient art in your
whole island ? The old inhabitants of your country, the
wild Irish, the true Milesian breed, untainted with Gothic
blood, we know to be rude clans to this day. * Can a nation
once civilized become savage ? Impossible. Such a nation
may be lost in effeminacy, as the modern Italians and Greeks ;
but will ever bear the marks of the excess, not the want of
civilization."1 Pinkerton, and hostile writers of his class, carried
the day, and our antiquities were made, for many a long year,
a butt for good-natured banter or merciless sarcasm.
Some forty years ago the truth, covered with prejudice and
hidden in obscurity and disgrace, began to be unveiled. A
number of men of distinguished ability devoted their energies
to elucidate the antiquities of their country, and to re-build
upon a solid foundation the ancient reputation of Erinn.
Catholics and Protestants buried their religious estrangements,
and worked side by side to recover and make known the
monuments of our early civilization. Foremost amongst these
patriotic pioneers were the great names of O'Curry, O'Donovan,
and Petrie. It was fitting that labours undertaken in so truly
national a spirit should be recorded by a skilful hand. And it
is most gratifying to find that the work has been accomplished by
1 Quoted by Dr. Stokes, in his most interesting and scholarlike " Life of Dr.
Petrie," p. 264.
in A ncicn t Ireland. .325
one associated through a long life with most of the archaeological
and literary men who felt a pride in the history of their country.
Dr. Stokes' " Life of Dr. Petrie," recently published, is a work
of great merit, leading the reader into an accurate knowledge
of what has been effected to demolish the theories of the
ignorant and fanciful, and to restore the national muniments
too long neglected and despised. It is full of sympathy for
our Celtic race, of respect for our national religion, and of
jealous anxiety for our national honour and independence. A
rtsumt of its contents will prove interesting to those who have
not as yet seen the work, a perusal of which will warm the
heart, and gladden the fireside of every true Irishman.
Petrie became a member of the Royal Irish Academy in
1827. There was at that period no national spirit amongst
the educated classes of Irishmen. United to England by ties
of religion, sympathy, interest, and descent, they despised the
faith of the people, and acted the part of the "English
garrison." The Catholic masses were steeped in poverty,
the result of confiscations and penal laws, which, though
they had ceased their actual pressure, had placed the
wealth of the country in the hands of " aliens in blood
and religion." The Catholic Emancipation lifted the multi-
tudes into an atmosphere of comparative liberty, and they
began to breathe more freely. Still, education was in a de-
plorable state, and the pulse of life beat but feebly in the
national heart. Petrie proposed to himself two great objects —
first, to awaken an interest in the masses for their country's
history. This he proposed to effect by the weekly publica-
tions of a cheap serial. He enlisted the assistance of some
very accomplished scholars, amongst whom were the Rev.
Caesar Otway and O'Donovan. In June, 1832, they published
the first number of the " Dublin Penny Journal." " The
subjects," says Petrie, " chiefly chosen, were such as were most
likely to attract the attention of the Irish people, next to
those of politics and polemics — namely, the history, biography,
poetry, antiquities, national history, legends, and traditions of
the country — subjects which can never fail to interest the
feelings of a people. The plan was novel and experimental,
and, at the same time, animating to minds zealous for the
moral improvements of the country." The work met with
only indifferent success. In about a year it passed into in-
ferior hands; and the original staff ceased to contribute to its
pages. Yet Petrie did not abandon the hope of awakening
the popular mind. In 1840, he started the "Irish Penny
Journal," of which he was the sole editor. Its object was the
same that called forth the "Dublin Penny Journal." The con-
3 26 Civilization and A rts
tributions of the most eminent literary men of Ireland are to
be found in its columns ; but the readers of the day were
neither numerous nor appreciative, and, after one year, it died.
However, the seeds had been carefully sown. In due time
they bore, and are every day bearing, fresh fruit. Despite the
efforts of the Government to banish, through the so-called
National Schools, all knowledge of our country's annals from
the minds of the lower classes, a desire for such knowledge is
now vast, and deep, and widening, and Petrie's patriotic efforts
shall be gratefully treasured in this land. The change in the
matter and tone of the new books issued for the Nattonal
Schools, has been effected by the persevering efforts of our
patriot bishops and priests, supported by the earnest demands
of the masses, whose literary tastes Petrie laboured to form
and nationalize. Petrie's second object was to ensure the
co-operation of his fellow members of the Academy, and,
through them, to influence the ruling classes. In the pages of
both the " Dublin" and " Irish Penny Journal," he had treated
with solid learning of the state of the arts and antiquities of
Ireland. His graceful, facile style was suited for the humblest
reader, yet polished with a simplicity and refinement. He
had exposed the shallow, scoffing ignorance of Pinkerton, in
decrying our claims to excellence in the arts. The year after
he joined the Academy, he found enrolled, as fellow-associates,
Dr. Todd, Anster, M'Cullagh, and other men of the same
stamp. Their co-operation gave hope and heart to Petrie.
He was elected Member of the Council of Antiquities in 1829,
and forthwith set himself to the formation of that Museum,
which is the glory of the Academy, and which, as a national
collection, stands unrivalled. In its presence it is no longer
possible to deny the marvellous skill, the fertile imagination,
and the artistic excellence which distinguished the Irish
nation, long before the tramp of an English soldier had sullied
our soil.
When we consider what those objects are that show forth
the high civilization of Ireland, we must the more appreciate
the liberal large-hearted care of Petrie for them. Shrines con-
taining the relics of some great founder of religious houses ; —
crosses carried in procession on solemn feast-days, in a worship
different from that in which Petrie believed ; — mementoes of
holy men and women, bishops, monks, and nuns, whom it was
quite the fashion to denounce as superstitious, or to laugh at
as fanatics ; such are the evidences gathered by Petrie's zeal
and example, and cherished with proud and anxious solicitude.
A few words, descriptive of the most remarkable of these trea-
sures, may prove interesting to those who have not had an
opportunity of inspecting them : —
ttt A ncien t Ireland. 327
I. The Cross of Cong.
In the year 1822, Petrie made a tour of th£ West of Ireland.
He took in Cong on the way. Furnished with a letter of intro-
duction to the Rev. Mr. Prendergast, " the last mitred abbot
of Ireland," he called upon him, and was courteously and hos-
pitably received. We shall let Petrie tell the curious incidents
of this interview :
"The object of my visit was to see some interesting remains
of antiquity, formerly the property of the abbey, and still in
possession of its abbot. The venerable clergyman received us
at the door with easy politeness, which warmed into cordiality
on perusing his friend's letter of introduction ; and after some
general conversation, relative to the object of my visit to that
unfrequented part of Ireland, favoured us with a sight of that
wonderful relic, the Cross of Cong. This reliquary was found by
the Rev. Mr. Prendergast, P.P., in an oaken chest, kept in a
cottage of the town, where it and other remains of antiquity
had probably been concealed since the Reformation, or at
least subsequent to the rebellion of 1641. A great portion of
the valuables thus hidden consisted of deeds of grants of land
to the abbey, and of Irish MSS. in vellum, splendidly illumi-
nated! The abbot, as he confesses, being at the time ignorant
of the value of such remains, thought little about them ; and
on going to the Continent shortly after, to improve his educa-
tion, carelessly left them in the charge of a young priest, whom
he appointed to do his duty during his absence. He remained
abroad eleven years, during which time he found that the most
ancient and valuable MS. which he saw on the Continent, ap-
peared to resemble, but not equal in beauty, those he had left
at home. Thus awakened to a sense of their value, we may
imagine, what at least ought to have been, his astonishment
and horror, on finding on his return home, that his deputy had,
during his absence, lost or destroyed all those curious and va-
luable remains, the cross excepted; and that, unfortunately, the
very beauty of the MSS. had been a chief cause of their de-
struction, the ignorant young man having cut them up to
decorate his breviaries with the illuminated letters which they
contained!" So far for the discovery, as it may be called,
of this precious article. Petrie's artistic eye at once detected
its rare value. He was a poor man, and could not purchase
it ; but he never lost sight of it, and fondly hoped to see it one
day deposited in the Museum, which it now adorns, in the Royal
Irish Academy. At length his wishes were realized. In 1849,
Petrie was sent by his friend the late Professor M'Cullagh,
to Cong, to purchase the prize. " It was bought for one
hundred guineas, and generously presented to the Academy.
A small but most accurate illustration of this famous cross
328 Civilization and Arts
will be found in Wakeman's Handbook of Irish Antiquities.
We subjoin the letter-press description of it :
"The Cross of Cong, the gem of the Academy, affords most
striking evidence of the advancement which the Irish arti-
ficers had made in several of the arts, and in general manufac-
turing skill, previous to the arrival of the English. It was
made at Roscommon, by native Irishmen, about the year
1123, in the reign of Turlough O'Connor, father of Roderick,
the last king of Ireland, and contains what was supposed to
be a piece of the true cross, as inscriptions in Irish, and Latin
in the Irish character, distinctly record The ornaments
generally consists of tracing, and grotesque animals, fanci-
fully combined, and similar in character to the decorations
found upon crosses of stone of about the same period. A
large crystal, through which a portion of the wood which the
cross was formed to enshrine is visible, is set in the centre, at
the intersection."
This description, though accurate, is not sufficiently precise
and exhaustive. We shall, therefore, endeavour to supplement
it by particulars supplied by Petrie, or suggested by a careful
inspection of the cross. The questions which naturally present
themselves are — first, what was its purpose or object, and
what are the evidences of the date or time at which the cross
was executed ? secondly, what are the peculiar excellencies
which mark it out as distinctively Irish, and as a work of high
artistic skill ?
It is most gratifying that the answers to the first class of
questions are supplied by the inscriptions on the cross itself,
one of them runs thus : —
>J< Hac Cruce Crux Tegitur Qua Passus Conditor Orbis.
We learn from the annals of Inisfallen, at the year 1123,
the year in which the first General Council of Lateran was
held, during the pontificate of Pope Callixtus, that " a bit of
the true cross came into Ireland, and was enshrined at Ros-
common by Turlogh O'Connor." The "Chronicum Scotorum,"
edited by Mr. Hennessy, at A.D. 1119, registers the same
event in the simple but expressive sentence, "The Cross of
Christ in Connacht, in this year."
So far it is plair. that the elaborate ornaments which beautify
this cross, were the efforts of Catholic piety and skill to
enrich a shrine somewhat worthy of enclosing a portion of the
true cross, for which the most profound veneraiion has been
entertained by our Celtic forefathers. Now, as to the date, we
gladly avail ourselves of Dr. Stokes' statement :—
" The remaining inscriptions are in Irish and give the names
in Ancient Ireland. 329
of the Four persons under whose superintendence this shrine
for the holy relic was made; the first was Muireadach O'Duffy,
archbishop of Connaught, for whose use it was intended ; the
second was the King, Turlough O'Connor, at whose desire and
expense it was executed ; the third, Donnel O'DufTy, was
the bishop who watched over its progress ; and the fourth,
Maclisa O'Echan, was the artist who executed it. Of the
last mentioned, and now most interesting of those four men,
no other record can be found ; no monument is left to tell of
his former greatness, save the exquisite work that has stood
for more than seven hundred years, bearing witness of the
marvellous power and delicate skill of the artist !"
Muireadach O'Duffy, the senior archbishop, for whose use
this cross was made, was a very illustrious man, whose death
is thus recorded in the "Annals of the Four Masters": —
"A.D. 1150. Muireadach O'Duffy, a bishop of Connaught,
the arch-senior of Ireland in wisdom, in chastity, in the
bestowal of gifts and food, died at Cong on the i6th of May,
on the festival of St. Brendan, in the seventy-fifth year of his
age." From this passage, we see that the prelate for whose
use the shrine was made, died twenty-two years before the
English invasion ; and more than that, the shrine was actually
completed, according to the "Annals of Inisfallen," in 1123,
some fifty years before the advent of Henry II.
As to the peculiar excellence of this famous shrine, its Irish
character, and its artistic skill, we are aware that our pages
will reach those who may probably seldom, if ever, have an
opportunity of satisfying themselves by personal inspection.
Hence a few words, we trust, will not appear out of place.
The general characteristics of what is known as the Irish School
of Ornamentation, are to be found not only in the treatment of
shrines, but also in Irish stone crosses of the same period
which adorn the ruins at Monasterboice, Clonmacnoise, Tuam,
and many other sites of ancient monasteries. In the same
class, but of still more elaborate style of ornamentation, are to be
ranked the famous MSS. known as the "Book of Kells," the
" Book of Burrow," the " Book of Durham," executed by
Irish monks at Lindisfame ; the " Book of Kildare," the " Book
of Armagh, &c., &c. Of such, Westwood says, in his " Palaeo-
graphia Sacra," the series o/ MSS., from which the fac-similes
in the accompanying plate have been copied (in conjunction
with the " Book of Kells"), constitute a series of actual proofs,
still preserved in Ireland, of the existence of a religious and
national school of art in that country at a period when the
rest of Europe was almost involved in mental darkness."
Intricate interlacements and minute elaboration, may be
regarded, Digby Wyatt informs us, as the special character-
VOL, r, 22
Civilization and Art
istics of the Irish school. Ruskin, in his work on " Mediaeval
Art," confirms the opinion of Digby Wyatt, and indeed it
needs but a glance at our most valuable MSS., stone crosses,
or shrines, to see the same spirit pervading and directing all.
Our gifted countryman, O'Neill, in his valuable work, entitled
"Fine Arts and Civilization of Ancient Ireland," says: —
" Various styles of ornamental art prevailed throughout Europe,
from the age of Constantine to the period of Renaissance ;
that is, from the earlier part of the fourth till the fourteenth
century; but during that thousand years, the Irish hold the pre-
eminence for every quality which renders works of art excel-
lent, namely, great originality and fertility of invention, won-
derful powers of execution, combined with a profound know-
ledge of the principles of art, to which we may add, a thorough
mastery of colour, or chromatic effect The works of
the early Christian artists which remain show that in fertility
of invention, and a profound knowledge of the principles of
their art in practical taste and most wonderful dexterity
of execution, the Irish artists have never been equalled."
It is not for one moment to be supposed that Mr. O'Neill
was led away by any national predilections, in advancing these
strong claims for his country. Giraldus Cambrensis maligned
the Irish nation in a style quite worthy of Dr. Boate or Edmund
Spenser, yet he bears the fullest testimony to the great excel-
lence of Irish music, and to the marvellous ornamentation of
the " Book of Kildare," a MS. not now known to exist :
"Amongst all the miraculous things of Kildare, nothing sur-
prised me so much as that wonderful book, said to have been
written from the dictation of an angel, in St. Bridget's own time.
This book contains the four Gospels, according to Jerome's
version, and is adorned with almost as many richly-illuminated
figures as it has pages. Here you see the majesty of the
Divine countenance, there the mystical shapes of the Evangelists,
furnished with six, four, or two wings ; here is the eagle, there
the calf; in another part the face of a man, or of a lion, to-
gether with other designs without number, which, if carelessly
surveyed, seemed rather blots than intertwined ornaments
(ligaturae), and appeared to be simple where there was, in
truth, nothing but intricacy. But, on close examination, the
secrets of the art were evident ; and so delicate and subtle,
so laboured and minute, so intertwined and knotted, so in-
tricately and brilliantly coloured did you perceive them that
you were ready to say they were the work of an angel, and
not of man. The more intently I examined them the more
was I filled with fresh wonder and amazement. Neither could
Apelles do the like ; indeed, mortal hand seemed incapable of
forming or painting them."
in A ncient Ireland. 3 3 1
We are inclined to forgive Giraldus half his malice and
slanders, in consideration of that tribute to the artistic genius
of our early Christian artists. The " Book of Kildare" is, un-
fortunately, lost, being destroyed very probably in that age
of fierce, fanatical fury which spared nothing Catholic that
could be desecrated. However another " gem of purest ray
serene" has been saved, namely, the "Book of Kells." All
that Cambrensis has said of the "Book of Kildare" may be
applied to its surviving rival, which is safely housed and most
carefully protected by the accomplished Irish scholar, Rev.
Dr. Todd, in whose charge, as Librarian of T.C.D., it is lodged.
Westwood, in his great work, entitled "Palceographia Sacra,"
gives us his estimate of the style in which the MS. is illumi-
nated : — "Ireland may justly be proud of the ' Book of Kells.'
This copy of the Gospels, traditionally said to have belonged
to St. Columba, is unquestionably the most elaborately-
executed manuscript of early art now in existence.... At a
period when the fine arts may be said to have been almost
extinct in Italy and other parts of the Continent, namely, from
the fifth to the end of the eighth century, the art of ornamenting
MSS. had a perfection almost miraculous in Ireland.... The
invention and skill displayed, the neatness, the precision
and delicacy far surpass all that is to be found in ancient
MSS. executed by Continental artists.... The artists who
executed the MSS. were also the originators of the stone
crosses.... The style and ornament in both classes of monu-
ments is essentially the same."
It is well to bear in mind such testimonies to the artistic
capabilities of the Irish race, now that a Royal Commission
has reported against the demand made by the representatives
of the Irish people for a Central Institution of Science and
Art in Dublin. Whilst seven millions have been lavished on
the Kensington Museum and on art training for the benefit of
English artisans, a people of higher intelligence and artistic
capabilities of a much superior order, are denied their right to
equal privileges, or even to an approximation thereto. A
writer in an able Conservative journal says, significantly: "It
will be asked to-day, how would an Irish Legislature disposing
of Irish revenues in Dublin deal with such a question ?"
NOTE. — The reader who is interested in the subject of Irish ornamentation will
find very valuable information in Miss Stokes' " Notes on Ornamentation,"
printed in the beautifully-illuminated work, "The Cromlech of Howth." The
paper referred to treats of the "Book of Kildare," the "Book of Kells," the
"Book of Durrow," the "Garland of Howth," which is still older than the
books of St. Columba; the " Book of Dimna," the " Book of St. Moling," the
" Liber Hymnorum," the " Book of Armagh," &c.
(To be continued)*
332
CORRESPONDENCE.
[We have been favoured with the following letter, which was
addressed to the Rev. C. P. MEEHAN, of this City. We are
deeply grateful to this distinguished Antiquarian, and to his
correspondent, for the valuable information contained in this
letter, and we trust that we may be honoured with many
similar communications from other districts.]
Larne, March 17, 1869.
MY DEAR SIR, — Seeing by an advertisement in " Notes and
Queries " that Archdall's " Monast. Hib." was to be repub-
lished, with notes, in the "Irish Ecclesiastical Record," I
ordered from the publisher this month's number of that
periodical ; and not knowing any other channel by which to
communicate with Archdall's Editor, I venture to trouble you
with the following identification, of which you may make any
use you please : —
" Irish Ecc. Record," p. 289. " AcJiadhdulthuigh, in Maghli,
a small territory near the river Bann" — is stated by Archdall
in the text to be " now unknown ;" and the Editor in his note
does not name any place precisely as the location of this
religious house — merely stating that it was " on the west side
of the river Bann." I am happy to be able to supply this
deficiency. The place referred to is the present Ag/tadowey,
in the county Deny, which quite suits the etymological con-
struction of the Irish word, and also the position of the
ancient territory Magh-li, which was near the Bann, and on
the west side of that river. But this identification is, I think,
rendered complete by the following extract from the Patent
Rolls of James I. : —
" 2nd James I. part 2, dor so. Iv. 5, $rd April. — Grant from
the King to Sir George Carewe, Knt, Vice-Chamberlain to
the Queen. . . . Site, &c., of the late Hospital or Termoe
of St. Goury, of Aghadowey, in O'Kane's country, &c."
Now, I think, there can be very little doubt that the
"St. Goury" of the Patent Rolls was identical with the "Sf.
Goar" of Archdall ; and therefore "Ag/tadowey" in the Patent
Rolls must also be identical with the "Achadhdubthuigk" of
Archdall.
Excuse this intrusion on the part of,
Dear Sir,
Yours very sincerely,
CLASSAN PORTER,
Rev. C. P. MEEIIAN.
333
LITURGICAL QUESTIONS.
We have been asked : —
1st. Can the Apostolical Blessing, with Plenary Indulgence,
in Articulo Mortis, be given more than once to the dying in
their last illness ?
2nd. Is it necessary to use the form assigned in the Ritual
for that blessing ?
3rd. What conditions are requisite to gain the usual Indul-
gences granted to the faithful for their dying moments ?
1. To the first question we reply that the Apostolical Bless-
ing may be given each time that the sick person is in danger
of death. This is expressly declared in the Papal Indult :
" Quoties aliquem, in mortis articulo constitutum esse contigerit,
.... toties Apostolicam benedictionem impertiri valeas" Even
whilst the same danger of death continues it is sometimes
lawful to repeat the Apostolical Benediction, viz. — if there be
prudent grounds for doubting whether the Indulgences had
been as yet gained by the sick person, either through defect
in the ceremonies, or through want of some of the other con-
ditions requisite for gaining such Plenary Indulgences. With-
out some such prudent doubt, the blessing should not be
repeated, for the Sacred Congregation has more than once
declared that the Indulgences attached to such Blessing, in
articulo mortis, can be obtained but once ; see, for instance,
in Prinzivalli's collection, the decrees of 23rd April, 1675 ; 5th
April, 1841; I2th February, 1842; and I2th March, 1855.
2. As regards the second question, the Form of Benediction
marked in the Ritual, and prescribed by Benedict XIV., must
be observed. This not only results from the constitution Pia
Mater, published on the subject by Benedict XIV., but also
from the Decree of the Congregation of Indulgences of 5th
April, 1841, already referred to, which expressly declares that
such Indulgences, in articulo mortis, are not granted, even
when a priest, through defect of a "Ritual," and without any
fault of his, is unable to use the prescribed form. Except in
the case of necessity, the Confiteor should be sad, even although
it had been already said a short time before, in the administra-
tion of .the Holy Viaticum or Extreme Unction. The Priest
should wear the surplice and purple stole : entering the room
of the sick person he should say Pax huic domi, &c., and then
he should give the usual aspersion of holy water, reciting the
antiphon, "Asperges me," &c. Should the danger of death
seem imminent, the Rubric assigns the portions of the formula
which may be omitted, and, if necessary, the simple form may
334 Liturgical Questions.
then be used : — " Indulgentiam Plenariam et remissionem
omnium peccatorum tibi concedo, in nomine Patris et Filii et
Spiritus Sancti. A men? The Constitution of Benedict XIV.
adds, that the priest should excite the person sick to fervent acts
of contrition and charity ; however, the Apostolical Blessing
may be given even to those who are deprived of the use of
their faculties, for, according to the same Constitution, the
habitual intention suffices for gaining these Indulgences in
articulo mortis.
3. Although the Plenary Indulgences attached to the Apos-
tolical Benediction can be gained but once, the other usual
Indulgences may be gained as often as the prescribed condi-
tions are fulfilled. For gaining the Indulgences attached to
crucifixes or beads, &c., it is only prescribed that the dying
person, being in the state of grace, should invoke the sacred
name of Jesus?- Sixtus the Fifth grants a special Plenary
Indulgence to those who, having had the custom during life
of invoking the holy names of Jesus and Mary, should also
invoke them at the hour of death ; and, if unable to pronounce
them with the lips, would at least desire to invoke them, at
the same time accepting death in resignation of God's adorable
will, and in atonement for all past offences. We will only add
on this subject of Indulgences at the moment of death, a
decree of Benedict XIV., of 3Oth May, 1744, which is inserted
in the authentic Collection of Prinzivalli, p. 89; it is as
follows : — " Urbis et Orbis. Sanctissimus Dominus Noster
Benedictus XIV, die 30. Maii, 1744, benigne declaravit
Imaginem Crucifixi Domini nostri Jesu Christi, quae Parochis
pro impertienda benedictione cum Indulgentia Plenaria in
articulo mortis decernitur, etiam ipsimet Parocho, cui concessa
est, in articulo mortis constituto, qui singula in decreto eidem
expedite injuncta peregerit, pari modo suffragari, sive per se
sive per alium ejusmodi Imago eidem porrigatur."
1 This holds good even in the case that the sick person may be prevented by his
illness from receiving the Holy Communion or Viaticum.
335
DOCUMENTS.
I. — DECREE EXTENDING TO THE WHOLE
CHURCH, THE OFFICE OF ST. PAUL OF THE
CROSS.
DECRETUM.
URBIS ET ORBIS.
Inconfusibilis Evangelii Praeco extitit profecto Sanctus
Paulus a Cruce, qui a Domino hisce propemodum temporibus,
undecima nempe hora, ad erudiendam plebem suam missus,
mercedem plenam et supereffluentem accepit. Hie enim
Christi passionibus communicans et per Urbes ac pagos per-
transiens verbum vitae in aeternitatis cibum alendae Christi-
fidelium- familiae dispendebat, doctrinae opportunitate et
veritate infirma confirmabat, disrupta consolidabat, et depra-
vata convertebat; donee in exultatione metens quod in
lacrimis seminaverat, manipulos plenissimos obiens in aeterna
tabernacula portavit ; spiritum vero suum Alumnis, quos sub
Crucis Vexillo congregaverat, reliquit ut in Vineae cultura
continuo adlaborarent
Dextera autem Dei ad superos exaltatus in gloriae hujus
indicium portentis inter mortales resplenduit, quibus permotus
Sanctissimus Dominus Noster PlUS PAPA IX audito consilio
Eminentissimorum et Reverendissimorum Sanctae Romane
Ecclesiae Cardinalium, Sacrorumque Antistitum, qui Anno
1867 ex universo terrarum orbe ad colendum saeculare Prin-
cipum Apostolorum Natalitium frequentissimi in Urbem con-
venerant, Apostolicum hunc Virum in Sanctorum Albo ad-
scripsit.
Post amplissimos Altarium honores Ei tributes permulti ex
iisdem Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Patribus Cardinalibus,
Sacrorumque Antistitibus quo facilius Christifideles ad Crucis
amorem ita excitarentur, ut nil aliud scire judicarent nisi
Jesum et hunc Crucifixum, a Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Pio
PAPA IX postularunt ut Officium et Missam Sancti Pauli a
Cruce Congregationis Clericorum Excalceatorum a Cruce et
Passione Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Institutoris ad universam
extenderet Ecclesiam. Eorum postulationibus a me subscripto
Sacrorum Rituum Congregationis Secretarioeidem Sanctissimo
Domino Nostro fidelissime relatis, Sanctitas Sua Apostolica
auctoritate decrevit ut deinceps festum Sancti Pauli a Cruce
cum Officio et Missa pro Clero Urbis approbatis die 1 1 Julii
anni superius memorati sub ritu duplici minori quotannis die
28 Aprilis ab omnibus tarn de Clero saeculari, quam Regu-
336
Documents.
laribus utriusque sexus, qui in Ecclesia universal! ad horas
Canonicas tenentur, celebraretur servata tamen Rubricarum
dispositione. Contrariis non obstantibus quibuscumque. Die
14 Januarii 1869.
C EPISCOPUS PORTUEN. ET S. RUFINAE CARD.
PATRIZI S. R. C. PRAEFECTUS.
Loco »i< Signi.
DOMINICUS BARTOLINI S. R. C. SECRETARIUS.
II— CIRCULAR TO THE BISHOPS ON THE VEST-
MENTS TO BE BROUGHT BY THEM TO THE
COUNCIL.
Illme et Rme Dne.
Hisce adiectum literis Amplitudo tua elenchum recipiet a
Praefecto Caeremoniarum S. Sedis redactum. In eo vestes
indicantur ac Sacra paramenta quae RR. PP. DD. Archiepis-
copi et Episcopi latini ritus Romam adventuri pro Oecumenico
Concilio Vaticano secum deferanda curabunt. Id habebam,
quod Amplitudini tuae communicarem, precor vero Deum ut
te diu sospitem servet incolumemque.
Dat. Romae ex aed. S. C. de P. F. die 20 Febr. 1869.
Ampl. Tuae
Uti Frater addictissimus
AL. C. BARNABO, PR.
Joannes Simeoni Secretarius.
ELENCHUS.
Vestium et Sacrorum paramentorum, quae Rmi Domini
Archiepiscopi et Episcopi latini ritus Romam advenientes
pro Oecumenico Concilio Vaticano celebrando secum deferri
curabunt.
1. Vestes Praelatitias ea forma, quae praescripta est in Caere-
moniali Romano lib. I Cap. I pro Antistitibus ex Clero Sae-
culari §. i ; ex ordine vero Regulari promotis §. 3 : et biretum
nigrum.
2. Cappam, de qua sermo est in memorato i lib. Caerem. Cap.
3 §• 3-
3. Amictum et tria pluvialia, unum colons albi, alterum colons
rubri, tertium violacei, quae tamen non sint auro vel argento
illita, aut acu picta, vulgo ricamati.
4. Mitram ex lino coloris albi.
ALOISIUS FERRARI Proton. Apost SSmi D. N.
et S, Sedis Caeremon. Praefectus.
337
III.— LETTER OF OUR MOST HOLY FATHER, PIUS
IX., TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS.
We omit the reviews of books and other interesting papers,
which were already in type for the present number, in order
to insert the following most important letter of His Holiness,
addressed to the Archbishop of Paris, which, though written
as far back as the 25th of October, 1865, has been kept a pro-
found secret till the past few days. It treats in full of the
principles and practices of those who seek in vain to revive
Febronianism in France, and it repeats the warnings so often
addressed to the Catholic Episcopate by preceding Pontiffs, in
regard to Freemasonry, and all other secret societies.
VENERABILI FRATRI GEORGIO, ARCH. PARISIENSI
LUTETIAM PARISIONUM.
Venerabilis Prater y Salutem et Apostolicam Benedictionem.
Ex Epistola quam manu Nostra exaratam, die 24 mensis
Novembris, anno proxime superiore ad Te dedimus, perfacile
noscere potuisti, Venerabilis Frater, Paternam Nostram in Te
benevolentiam. Ea profecto spe nitebamur fore ut illis amantis
nostri in Te animi sensibus permotus, velles Nostrse erga Te
dilectioni studiosissime respondere, Nostrisque desideriis perli-
benter obsecundare,Tuamque erga Nos ethane Petri Cathedram
Observantiam ac Devotionem luculenter ostendere, veluti Ca-
tholicum Antistitem omnino decet. Atque eo magis id spera-
bamus quod cum ad istam Parisiensem Archiepiscopalem
Ecclesiam fuisti designatus, Tuas ad Nos litteras perferendas
curasti, quibus profitebaris Te Nobis et huic Apostolicae Sedi
esse addictissimum et summa Nos eamdemque Sedem Reve-
rentia colere. Hac igitur spe freti, in cornmemorata Nostra
Epistola ne verbum quidem facere existimavimus de Tuis
litteris, Kalendis mensis Septembris, eodem superiore anno,
datis quibus respondisti Nostrae Epistolae, die 26 Aprilis ejusdem
anni Tibi scriptae circa aliquas res ad istam Tuam Dicecesim
pertinentes, quse Tuae litterae non leviter Nobis admirationi
et tristitiae fuerunt, cum ex illis, praeter omnem expectationem
Nostram, intellexerimus Te eas habere opiniones quae divino
Romani Pontificis in, universam Ecclesiam Primatui omnino
adversantur.
Et sane asserere non dubitas Romani Pontificis Potestatem
in Episcopales diceceses nee Ordinariam nee Immediatam
esse. Opinaris Romanum Pontifieem tune dumtaxat in
alienam Dicecesim posse JSuam ifiterponere Auctoritatem
Letter of Pope Pius IX.
quando dicecesis ipsa ita aperte sit inordinata ac perturbata,
ut Summi Pontificis interventus sit unicum remedium quo ani-
marum saluti et Pastorum negligently consulatur. Divinum
autem jus, ex quo Episcopus est solus in Sua dioecesi Judex,
minime recognosci arbitraris, cum Summus Pontifex extra
commemoratum evidentis necessitatis casum Sese dioecesis
negotiis commiscet. Atque existimas dicecesim canonice erec-
tam in qua Hierarchia est constituta, in missionum regiones
converti, si Romanus Pontifex extra prsedictum casum, Suam
potestatem erga dioecesim exerceat. Insuper, in sermone
potissimum a Te ad Senatum habito, affirmasti abusum esse
appellationes ad hanc Apostolicam Sedem, et oppugnas jus
quo singuli fideles potiuntur appellandiad Summum Pontificem,
et inquis id impedire ac prope impossibilem reddere dioecesis
administrationem.
Dum vero hanc doctrinam manifestare minime haesitas, cla/e
aperteque declaras quibus modis uti velis ad earn firmiter ser-
vandam. Namque significas Tibi in animo esse totis viribus
obsistere et curare ne directus Romani Pontificis interventus
extra saepe repetitum necessitatis casum locum habeat, asserens
Regularium et istius Nunciaturce et Romanarum Congregation-
um agendirationem eo spectare ut Summi Pontificis interventus
directo in diceceses inducatur. Ac praeterea.ais Te velle, turn
alios Venerabiles fratres Galliae Sacrorum Antistites excitare
ut una Tecum conspirent, turn ad vulgus appellare, apta adhi-
bita instructione.
Eodem autem sermone a Te penes istum Senatum recitato
baud veritus es varies in medium proferre modos supremae
Romani Pontificis et Apostolicse hujus Sedis Auctoritati max-
ime contraries, retinendi scilicet Apostolicas Litteras, illasque
civilis Auctoritatis arbitrio placitoque subjiciendi, et confu-
giendi ad laicam Potestatem. Quo sermone, typis in lucem
deinde edito, verba etiam faciens de articulis organicis, quam-
dam eisdem Auctoritatem et Reverentiam deferendamcensuisti,
utpote respondentibus praeexistenti et graviori Societatis con-
ditioni ac necessitati, cum baud ignores quomodo Apostolica
Sedes contra eosdem articulos a laica Potestate editos et Ca-
tholicae Ecclesiae Doctrinaa ejusque Juribus ac Libertati adversos
protestari nunquam omiserit.
Equidem, Venerabilis Prater, nunquam credere potuissemus
Te hisce sensibus esse animatum, nisi illos ex prasdictis Tuis
Litteris mense Septembri ad Nos datis, et ex memorato Tuo
sermone, cum summo animi Nostri dolore agnovissemus. Non
possumus enim non vehementer dolere et angi, cum praeter
omnem opinionem cogitationemque Nostram, hac Tuasentiendi
agendique ratione videaris favere et erroneis Febronii Doc-
•?tQ the A rchUshop of Paris. 339
trinis, quas, uti noscis, haec Sancta Sedes reprobavit, damnavit,
et Catholic! scriptores doctissimis operibus reprobarunt et
profligarunt. Ac per Te ipse perfacile intelligere potes,
Venerabilis Frater, quanta afficiamur admiratione, dum animo
reputamus eas a Te proferri sententias, quse Catholicae Doc-
trinae repugnant et a quibus iccirco, uti Ecclesiaa Catholicae
Antistes, vel maxime abhorrere debes.
Et quidem asserendo Romani Pontificis Potestatem in
singulas diceceses non esse Ordinariam sed Extraordinariamt
propositionem enuntias omnino adversam Concilii iv Latera-
nensis Definition!, in qua luculentissima ac decretoria ilia
leguntur verba : " Romana Ecclesia, disponente Domino, super
omnes alias Ordinariae Potestatis obtinet Principatum, utpote
Mater Universorum Christi Fidelium, et Magistra " (Cone. iv.
cap. 5), scilicet eorum omnium qui pertinent ad Christi Gre-
gem. Quaa gravissima ejusdem Concilii Verba, Tibi apprime
nota ac perspecta esse debent, Venerabilis Frater. Neque ig-
norare potes eamdem Tuam propositionem plane contrariam
esse constanti usui et Doctrinae ab Universali Catholica Ec-
clesia, omnibusque ejus Episcopis cum omni Veneratione ex-
ceptse ac traditae, secundum quam, turn prsesenti, turn prae-
teritis setatibus, Ecclesia semper tenuit ac docuit, et docet ac
tenet Divina ilia Verba : " Pasce Agnos meos, pasce Oves
meas," Beatissimo Apostolorum Principi ita a Christo Domino
dicta fuisse, ut eorumdem verborum vi, omnes et singuli
fideles Petro, ejusque Successoribus, velut Supremis et Or-
dinariis totius Ecclesiae, omniumque Sacrorum Antistitibus
immediate subjecti esse debeant, sicuti ipsi Christo Domino,
cujus Romanus Pontifex verus est his in terris Vicarius ac
totius Ecclesise Caput omniumque Christianorum Pater et
Doctor.
Non parum autem miramur, cum, quin forsitan animadver-
teris, ex Febronianis placitis sentias, ex commemorata doctrina,
diceceses in missionum regiones et Episcopos in Vicarios
Apostolicos converti, cum omnes cognoscant a Catholicis
merito responded, id tarn esse falsum quam falsum est
asserere in civili ordine, Ordinaries provinciarum Praefectos,
Judices, aliosque Magistratus non posse amplius nominari
Magistratus Ordinaries, propterea quod Rex vel Imperator
Directa seu Immediata et Ordinaria potestate in singulos sibi
subditos potiuntur. Qua aptissima sane similitudine utitur
Doctor Angelicus cum inquit: "Papa habet plenitudinem
Pontificalis Potestatis, quasi Rex in Regno ; sed Episcopi as-
sumuntur in partem sollicitudinis quasi Judices singulis civi-
tatibus praepositi." (S. Th. q. 26, art. 3.)
Atque etiam non possumus non mirari Te, Venerabilis
340 Letter of Pope Pius IX.
Frater, queri de petitionibus et appellationibus quae ad Ro-
manum Pontificem deferuntur, quaeque ab Ipso excipiuntur,
quandoquidem, uti Catholicus Antistes, scire optime debes,
appellationum jus ad Apostolicam Sedem, veluti inquit Im-
mortalis Memoriae Benedictus XIV Decessor noster, "adeo
necessario connexum cum Romani Pontificis in Universam
Ecclesiam Jurisdictionis Primatu, ut nemo possit illud in con-
troversiam adducere, nisi et hunc velit praefracte inficiari."
(Bened. XIV, de Synodo dicec. lib. iv. cap. 5.) Quod quidem
jus adeo omnibus fidelibus notum est ut S. Gelasius Praedeces-
sor item Noster (Epist 7 ad Episc. Sardin.) scriberet : " Cuncta
per Mundum novit Ecclesia quoniam quorumlibet Sententiis
ligata Pontificum, Sedes Beati Petri Apostoli Jus habeat
resolvendi, utpote quod de omni Ecclesia jus habeat ju-
dicandi, neque cuiquam de ejus liceat judicare judicio ; si
quidem ad Illam de qualibet mundi parte Canones appellari
voluerunt, ab Ilia autem nemo sit appellare permissus."
Hinc admirationem moves, cum affirmas hujusmodi Apos-
tolicae Sedis morem excipiendi eorum querelas, qui ab Episco-
porum Judicio ad eamdem Sedem appellant, Tibi impossibilem
reddere Tuae dioecesis administrationem. Talis enim impos-
sibilitas a nullo Catholicae Ecclesiae Episcoporum turn praesenti,
turn superioribus aetatibus fuit unquam cognita. Quod si
ejusmodi impossibilitas a Te asserta existere unquam posset,
earn Romanus Pontifex sentire deberet, qui gravissima om-
nium Ecclesiarum sollicitudine distentus, omnium diceceseon
petitiones excipere, easque accurate exanrnare ac dirimere
tenetur-, numquam vero simplex Episcopus qui de propriae
dioecesis factis tantum respondere debet, quae totius CaJio-
licae Ecclesiaa exigua pars est.
Atque hujusmodi Tuae quaerimoniae contra appellationum
jus ad Romanum Pontificem et contra ordinariam ac directam
ejus'dem Pontificis in omnes diceceses jurisdictionem, eo ma-
jorem excitant admirationem, quod omnis religiosae mentis
Episcopus ex eodem jure ac jurisdictione, veluti per Te ipse
noscere potes, Venerabilis Frater, maximum solatium, con-
solationem ac robur percipit coram Deo et Ecclesia et coram
ipsis Ecclesiaa hostibus. Et quidem coram Deo: propterea
quod, dum ex parte se a reddenda villicationis SUJE ratione
eximit, salutari Apostolicae Sedis Lumine perfusus, magis in
dies dirigitur ad suam dicecesim prospere administrandam ;
coram Ecclesia : nam hoc facto earn majore usque conjunctione
acfirmitateet regiminis unitate vigere et florescere videt ; coram
Ipsius Ecclesia) inimicis : propterea quod contra ipsos hac
ratione Episcopus fortior et constantior evadit. Omnibus
enim probatum exploratumque est Episcopum, non solum
to the Archbishop of Paris. 341
debilem, verum etiam adversariorum ludibrium tune majorem
in modum fieri, cum Ipse minus adhaeret Immobili UK Petraa
super Quam Christus Dominus Suam aedificavit Ecclesam et
adversus quam inferi portas numquam praevalituras esse
promisit.
Quod autem declaras, Te velle resistere, aliosque Galliarum
Episcopos commovere et ad vulgus appellare, vides profecto
hisce seditiosis sane modis a Febronio contra Apostolicam
Sedem propositis, et Ipsum Divinum Ecclesiae constitutionis
Auctorem graviter offendi et maximum turn Tuis Collegis,
turn Catholico Galliarum populo injuriam inferri.
Jam vero, de Regularium quaestione loquentes, scias imprimis
velimus, Regulares ipsos nihil omnino ad Nos detulisse, cum
visitationem a Te ipsis factam aliunde noverimus. Hac de re
prsedictis Nostris Litteris, die 26 Aprilis datis, Te amanter
monuimus : et idem Nostrum monitum tibi sententiam appel-
lare placet, parte inaudita latam ; et inquis, id esse contra juris
praesumptionem, quam semper pro Superiore stare existimas,
quando inter Superiorem et inferiorem, veluti sunt Regulares,
habito ad Te respectu, agitur controversia.
Vix credere possumus id a Te dici, Venerabilis Frater, cum
notissimus sit Tibi liber Decretalium Praedecessorum Nostro-
rum, et iccirco scias, omni semper aetate, hoc in more positum
fuisse Romanorum Pontificum, ut cum audirent aliquid ab
Episcopo quolibet minus recti specie peractum, ad Eumdem
libere scripserint exprimendo propriamaagritudinem. Et quam
plurimi existunt Canones incipientes illis verbis : " Relatum...
Quaerelam Ad audientiam Ad Nostram audientiam
Ad aures etc." Neque Episcopi, hujus modi Romanorum
Pontificum Litteras unquam acceperunt veluti sententias, inau-
dita parte editas, neque unquam indignati sunt; sed easdem
Litteras eo quo scriptae fuerant sensu exceperunt, scilicet
tanquam invitationes, vel ad comprobandam rem a se peractam
vel ad recognoscendum malefactum, illudque reparandum.
Diversa agendi ratio nimis difficile Christi his in terris Vicario
redderet totius EcclesiaB Regimen, et Episcopal! mansuetudini
baud satis esset consentanea.
In plures autem ambiguitates Te incidisse dolemus,
Venerabilis Frater, quoad Regularium negotium. Nam,
pro Tua prudentia, primum serio consideres velimus
hie agi de Episcopali visitatione, turn Religiosis Societatis
Jesu, turn Franciscalis Ordinis Capucinorum viris facta, qui
pluribus ab hinc annis in ista Parisiensi civitate, et sub variis
Archiepiscopis Tuis Praedecessoribus commorantes, pacifica
eorum Exemptionis possessione potiebantur; et proinde
Apostolica etiam Sedes peculiar! seu privativa sua in ipsos
342 Letter of Pope Pius IX.
Jurisdictione pollebat Itaque de spolio agitur per factum
patrato contra possessionem quam Apostolica Sedes et Regu-
lares habebant. Hie verus est quaestionis status, ex quo
perfacile perspicis Apostolicam Sedem juste egisse, etiam si
placeret in Judicium Sententiamque convertere verba ilia
quibus Te monendum duximus. Etenim, Venerabilis Prater,
quamquam plenam haberes fationem, tamen minime ignoras
ex utriusque juris praescripto, neminem de possessione de-
turbari posse. Quamobrem antequam Regulares et Apostoli-
cam Sedem propria possessione ac Jure spoliares, Tuam erat,
turn Reverentiae, turn Justitiae causa, eamdem Sedem de Tuis
rationibus certiorem facere, et ab eadem Sede expectare res-
ponsum. Quae Apostolica Sedes justissime est operata, quan-
doquidem apprime noscis quod intercedat discrimen inter
Judicmmpetttvrmm et possessorium judicium, ac quse utrumque
jus praecipue statuas circa cujusque generis spoliorum et
ausuum judicia. Vehementer optamus, Venerabilis Frater, ut
id pro Tua prudentia sedulo considerare et intelligere velis.
Arbitraris autem Apostolicam Sedem ex praesumptionis
jure, pro Superiore semper stare debere, quando inter dispares
gradus quaestio habetur, ac regulam proponis illi longe dissimi-
lem quam Sanctus Bernardus Innoceritio II Decessori Nostro
proposuit illis verbis : "Hoc, inter caetera Vestri singularis
primatus insignia specialius nobiliusque nobilitat, Vestrum et
mclytum reddit Apostolatum, si eripitis pauperem de manu
fortiorum ejus." (S. Bernardus, Epist. 198.)
At contendis Religiosas familias, Lutetiae Parisiorum de-
gentes, haud posse perfrui exemptionis juribus, propterea quod
ipsae, veluti Tibi videtur, tres ob causas, non sunt canonice
erectae. Et primum, quia istius Status leges non tribuunt
Regularibus legitimam existentiam ; secundo propterea
quod ipsae leges non sinunt Regularium domos alicujus
Dominium rei et Possessionem habere ex quo evenit
ut minime possit executioni mandari quod Apostolicse
jubent Constitutiones, quae praescribunt ut ante funda-
tionem omnino constet quomodo se decenter sustentare
queant; ac denique propterea quod Tridentina Synodus et
Romanprum Pontificum Constitutiones, ad Canonicam Regu-
larium in dioecesibus existentiam requirunt Episcopi Consen-
sum, quern asseris uumquam impertitum fuisse Regularibus
de quibus sermo est. Atque etiam asseris praecedentis exis-
tentiae factum nullomodo Canonicum eorumdem Regularium
statum efficere posse: non titulo implicitae Approbations,
quandoquidem Pontificias Constitutiones et Concilium Tri-
dentinum postulant, veluti opinaris, ut hujusmodi Episcopi
Consensus et Auctoritas sit expressa et scripto data, ante
to the Archbishop of Paris. 343
Regularium adventum ; non titulo prescriptions, propterea
quod ais agi de Lege irritante ac de Lege public! Ordinis quse,
uti existimas, praescriptionem haud admittunt. Sed non dubi-
tamus, quin per Te ipse cognoscas, Vcnerabilis Frater, hujus-
modi argumenta nullam plane vim habere, si, pro Tua
intelligentia, serio perpendas quaa dicturi sumus quaeque a Te
sedulo considerari summopere cupimus.
Et sane quoad leges Status quae Legitimam seu Civilem
Regularibus Ordinibus existentiam denegant et vetant illorum
domos alicujus possessionis Dominio potiri, et ita impediunt
quominus impleatur conditio a Canonicis Sanctionibus eorum-
dem fundationi imposita, ut nempe constet quomodo se cum
decentia alant : quid valere umquam possunt hujusmodi
Civiles Leges ad Ecclesiasticorum jurium rationem admimstra-
tionemque ? Te minime latet has Civilis Status Leges, hisce
praesertim turbulentissimis, miserrimisque teterrimae ac perni-
ciosissimae rebellionis temporibus, posse etiam Episcopalibus
et cuilibet alii Ecclesiastics Institution! denegare in dies
Legitimam seu civilem existentiam, quum admodum Ipsis
omnem cujusque rei possessionem Dominiumque injustis-
sime denegant. Ipsis igitur canonica existentia et propria
eorum Ecclesiastica jura erunt unquam deneganda ? Probe
cognoscis Evangelicorum consiliorum exercitium, ad Christi-
anam assequendam perfectionem maxime necessarium, facilius
in Religiosis Familiis obtineri posse. Poterunt ne Civiles
Leges Christianas Perfectionis exercitium in statu impedire, et
Episcopi ejusmodi legibus Canonicam vim attribuere debe-
bunt ? Omnes quidem, et Episcopi imprimis, agnoscunt quaa
semper fuerit Ecclesiae et hujus Apostolicae praesertim Sedis,
omnium Ecclesiarum Magistrse, agendi ratio circa hujusmodi
Leges Regularibus Ordinibus inimicas et infestas. Episcopus
igitur possetne ab hujusmodi traditione discedere, ac deserere
locum quern in Ecclesia tenet, hasce leges sancire eisque
coram Ecclesia aliquem attribuere effectum ? Quaa quidem
considerationes evidenter ostendunt quam inanis sit oppositio
ex ejusmodi civilibus legibus petita.
Quod autem hae leges per summam injustitiam decernunt
Religiosas domos nihil omnino posse Dominii jure possidere,
et iccirco censes haud posse impleri conditionem a Sacris
Canonibus Regularium fundationi praescriptam, ut nempe
constet de eorum decenti sustentatione, si eorumdem, quos
appellas Canonum, spiritum et litteram penitus et accurate
perspexeris, Venerabilis Frater, certe videbis Te falli ac decipi.
Etenim quidnam Canones postulant praescribendo illam condi-
tionem ? Nihil profecto aliud exigunt et volunt nisi eorum-
dem Regularium bonum turn Singulorum turn recti praesertim
344 Letter of Pope Pius IX.
cujusque Religiosae Families regiminis et administrationis
ratione habita. Itaque, cum omnino impossibile ipsis sit
illam exequi conditionem, qua aequalitate posset in
eorumdem damnum verti quod pro ipsorum bono est constitu-
tum ? Notissimae Tibi sunt de hac re non solum Canonum
(Cap. Quod ob gratiam de Reg. juris in 6), sed etiam Civilium
legum regulas (Leg. null. 25 ff. de legit) : " Nulla juris ratio
aut sequitatis benignitas patitur ut quse salubriter pro utilitate
hominum introducuntur ea Nos duriore interpretatione contra
ipsorum commodum producamus ad severitatem."
Si autem Canonum litteras inspicias, num ipsi praecipiunt ut
Regulares, quemadmodum Tibi videtur, possessionibus dun-
taxat eorum Dominii alantur et sustententur ? Non certe.
Hi Canones sunt: Constitutio "Cum alias" Gregorii XV
Decessoris Nostri, die 17 Aug. 1622 edita; Constitutio " Cum
sape" Urbani XVIII item Decessoris Nostri, die 21 Junii 1625,
et Constitutio " Nuper" Innocenti XII item Decessoris Nostri,
die 23 Decembris 1697. Ac satis erit earn afferre quae recen-
tior est, aliasque duas complectitur. Haec igitur Constitutio
ita loquitur : " Deinceps vero monasterium, conventus, domus,
etc... Regularium nullibi recipiatur nisi in singulis hujusmodi
locis duodecim saltern religiosi degere et ex redditibus et con-
suetis eleemosynis, detractis detrahendis, competenter sustentari
valeant." Itaque Canones minime loquuntur unice de pos-
sessionibus, sed generatim de redditibus et eleemosynis con-
tenti sunt.
Sed jam loquamur oportet de alia conditione seu de Episco-
pali Venia et consensu quern Tridentina Synodus et Pontificise
Constitutiones ad Canonicam Regularium domorum existen-
tiam constituendam requirunt. Nemo certe, Venerabilis Frater,
de hujusmodi Episcopalis Consensus necessitate dubitare
potest, sed in praesenti quaestione est videndum, si hie Consen-
sus modo extiterit Ac rebus omnibus sedulo examinatis, qua
aequitate negari unquam poterit ejusmodi extitisse Consensum ?
Et sane,ut caetera omittamus,omnes norunt, Venerabilis Frater,
commemoratos Religiosos turn Franciscalis Ordinis, turn
Societatis Jesu viros reipsa plures abhinc annos istic extitisse
sub variis Parisiensibus Antistitibus Tuis Praedecessoribus, qui
eorumdeni Regularium opera ad Animarum Salutem curandam,
et^ad omnia Sacri Ministerii Munia obeunda quam libentissime
usi sunt^ quique eosdem Regulares benevolentiae et honoris
significationibus sunt prosecuti. Quas tuorum Praedecessorum
erga ipsos Regulares agendi ratio clare ostendit Canonicum
Consensum sufficient! modo expressum fuisse, illumque negari
haud posse, quin maxima Tuis ipsis Praedecessoribus inferatur
injuria. Atque percommode cadit quod (de institut. cap. "non
1o the Archbishop of Paris. 345
amplius ") Fagnanus auctor aequalis et etiam posterior Urbano
VIII aliisque Romanis Pontificibus Praedecessoribus a Te
appellatis et illarum Canonicarum Constitutionum quas recen-
ses scientissimus scribebat, quin nemo unquam vel antea vel
postea adversatus fuerit : " Glossa ultima in cap. de Monachis
qusest. 2, ponderando verbum probante notat ' satis esse ut
Episcopi Consensus accedat post erectionem, quia ratihabitione
potest confirmare,' et consentiunt ibi Hugo Archidiaconus et
alii." Et revera aliter esse non potest, cum ita aequitas exigat,
et, quemadmodum jurisperiti loquuntur, facta potentiora sunt
verbis.
Ex quo pro Tua sapientia intelligis nullum pondus habere
tuam animadversionem ex Urbani XVIII Constitutione de-
ductam, ut scilicet Ordinarii venia expressa esse debeat, et non
implicita aut praesumpta, veluti existimas, quoniam non minus
id exprimitur quod certis, evidentibus et longa annorum serie
continuatis factis exprimitur, quam quod verbis etiam scripto
exprimitur. Ac multo minus valet alia animadversio, ut
scilicet ha3c Episcopalis Venia scripto sit tradenda, propterea
quod non solum facta potentiora sunt verbis et scriptis, verum
etiam propterea quod nulla Canonica Constitutio hanc script!
conditionem statuit. Neque afferri potest argumentum a Con-
cilio Tridentino depromptum, ut scilicet Ordinarii Consensus
fundationem prsecedere debeat. Nam Te minime latet, hunc
esse proprium, naturalem et judicum omnis ratihabitionis quae
ex sequentibus factis oritur effectum, sanandi scilicet defectum
illius actus qui recte prsecedere debuisset. Nihil autem ad
praesentem quasstionem attinet quod de prsescriptione loqueris,
cum nemo prorsus intendat aut velit Ordinarii Consensum per
praescriptionem excludere, sed unice dicitur hujusmodi consen-
sum, tot factis ac longa annorum serie amplissime declaratum,
sine dubio ac sufficient! modo existere, ac non solum haud
posse eumdem negari consensum, verum etiam pro certo
haberi debere, ilium omni meliore forma extulisse.
Jam vero dum hsec pragdictis Tuis potissimum litteris, Kalen-
dis Septembris ad nos missis, rescribenda Tibique diligenter
consideranda esse censemus, haud possumus quin alia quoque
non levis certe momenti Tibi significemus. Namque dissimu-
larenon possumus, Venerabilis Frater, summam fuisse Nostram
molestiam admirationemque ubi accepimus Te exequiis inter-
fuisse Magni utriusque militise Magistri Magnan et Solemnem
Absolutionem fuisse impertitum,dum ex illius feretroMassonica
etiam extabant insignia, et eidem funeri, socii illius damnatae
sectas cum eisdem insignibus adsistebant. Tuis litteris, die I
proximi mensis Augusti ad nos scriptis, asseveras ilia insignia
nee a Te nee a Tuis Presbyteris visa fuisse; neque ea ullo modo
VOL. v. 23
346 Letter of Pope Pills IX.
a Te cognosci. Verum optime sciebas, Venerabilis Prater,
ilium defunctum virum, dum vixit, Magni uti appellant Orientis
munus proscriptae ejusdem sectae misere sustinuisse ; et iccirco
facile funeri esse interfuturos ac simul curaturos ut ipsius sectae
insignia ostentarentur. Itaque pro Tua Religione omnia Tibi
erant sedulo consideranda et omnino ab illis exequiis caven-
dum ne Tua praesentia et opera excitarentur gravissima ilia
admiratio et offensio qua omnes viri Catholici merito affecti
fuerunt. Etenim haud ignoras quomodo, gravibus etiam irro-
gatis pcenis, Massonica, aliaeque hujusmodi iniquitatis societates
a Romanis Pontificibus Decessoribus Nostris et a Nobis ipsis
damnataa fuerunt. (Clemens XII Constitut. " In eminenti."
Benedictus XIV "Provideas." Pius VII "Ecclesiam." Leo
XII " Quo graviora." Nostra Encyclica Ep., die 9 Novembris
1846, et alibi.)
Siquidem hujusmodi impietatis sectae, nomine licet diversae,
tamen nefario scelestissimorum consiliorum foedere inter se
conjunctae, ac teterrimo contra Sacrosanctam Nostram Reli-
gionem et hanc Apostolicam Sedem odio inflammatae, turn
pestiferis scriptis longe lateque disseminatis, turn pravis aliis
quibusque ac diabolicis prorsus artibus adhibitis omnium
mores mentesque corrumpere, omnemque Honestatis, Virtutis,
Veritatis ac Justitiae ideam de medio tollere, et monstrousa
opinionum portenta usquequaque spargere, et abominanda
quaeque vitia, et infanda scelera fo^ere, propagare et Legitimae
cujusque Auctoritatis Imperium labefactare, et Catholicarn
Ecclesiam, si fieri unquam posset, Civilemque Societatem
funditus evertere, et Deum Ipsum de Ccelo detrudere emo-
liuntur.
Nunc autem silentio praeterire non possumus ad aures Nos-
tras pervenisse istic erroneam aeque ac perniciosam invaluisse
opinionem, Apostolicas Hujus Sedis acta nullam parere Ob-
ligationem, nisi acta ipsa, Civilis Potestatis venia, execution!
fuerint mandata. Quod quidem quam erroneum et Ecclesias
atque Apostolicae Sedis Auctoritati injuriosum et Spiritual!
fidelium bono adversum sit, nemo certe non videt. Suprema
enim Ecclesiae ejusdemque Sedis Auctoritas Civilis Potestatis
imperio et arbitrio obnoxia nullo modo esse unquam potest,
in iis omnibus quae ad Ecclesiasticas res ac Spirituale Anima-
rum Regimen quavis ratione spectant ; et illi omnes qui
Catholico Nomine gloriantur eidem Ecclesiae et Apostolicaj
Sedi Religiosissime obtemperare, debitamque Reverentiam ac
Devotionem exhibere omnino tenentur.
Atque hie animadvertas velimus Te, in commemorato
sermone penes istum Senatum pronunciato, perperam as-
3eruisse a Felicis Memoriae Benedicto XIV Praedecessore Nostro
to the Archbishop of Paris. 347
in Conventione cum Sardiniae Rege inita, eidem Regi conces-
sum fuisse Regiaa executionis jus circa Pontificia Acta, quan-
doquidem affirmasti in instructione eidem Conventioni adjecta
dici : "Pontificias Constitutiones ad disciplinam pertinentes
subjiciendas esse illius Senatus recognition!, easque Regia
executione indigere ut obligandi vim habeant, exceptis con-
stitutionibus et Apostolicis Litteris, qua3 ad Dogma Moresque
spectant." Quae falsa sane assertio numquam fortasse ex ore
Tuo excidisset, Venerabilis Prater, si ante oculos habuisses
diligenterque attendisses ejus instructionis verba. Et requidem
vera in articulo tertio illius instructionis hcec verba leguntur:
" Nel Concordato col Pontefice Benedetto (XIII) trattossi
dell'esecuzione de' Brevi e Bolle apostoliche, come puo leggersi
nello stesso Concordato. Fu tollerata la simplice visura, senza
porre alcun segno, o fare alcun decreto in ordine all'esecuzione
delle sopra dette Bolle e Brevi ; e si sa che tutto cio e stato
fedelmente adempito. E benche si dica con ogni asse-
veranza, e si creda, che ne il Senato, ne verun altro tri-
bunale non ha assunta ad istanza di chi si sia la cognizione
sovra la giustizia o pretesa ingustizia delle Bolle o de' Brevi,
desiderandosi^nulladimeno, che il tutto mai sempre proceda con
una perfetta armonia, quando mai s'incontrasse qualche diffi-
colta contraria all'esecuzione della Bolla o del Breve, e si
bramasse di saperne i motivi dovranno i Ministri di sua Maesta,
con i chiarimenti bastevoli per appagare, informarne o il
Ministro della Santa Sede residente in Torino, oppure i ministri
Apostolici residenti in Roma. Dalla semplice visura poi
resteranno eccettuate le Bolle dogmatiche in materia di
fede, le Bolle e i Brevi regolativi delben vivere e de' santi cos-
tumi, le Bolle de' giubbilei e d'indulgenze i Brevi della sacra
Penitenzieria, e le lettere delle Sagre Congregazioni di Roma,
che si scrivono agli Ordinarii o ad altre persone per infor-
mazione."
Atque ejusmodi circa Regiae executionis, veniam dispositiones
nunquam immutatse fuerunt in posterioribus Conventionibus
inter hanc Apostolicam Sedem et Sardinia Regem initis, et
in Conventione a recentis memoriae Gregorio XVI Praedeces-
sore Nostro cum defuncto Sardinias Rege Carolo Alberto super
immunitate personali anno 1842 facta, ad plenum vigorem
revocatae fuerunt praecedentes Conventiones, in iis omnibus
quibus per eamdem Conventionem non fuit derogatum.
Tibi autem persuade, Venerabilis Prater, Nos hjec omnia
pro supremi Nostri Apostolici Ministerii Munere ac pro Ponti-
ficia Nostra in Te Dilectione manifestare debuisse ; ac futurum
plane confidimus ut pro tua Religione velis haac omnia Aman-
tissima Nostra Monita ac docurnentaquamlibentissimeexcipere,
348 Letter of Pope Pius IX. to the Archbishop of Paris.
iisdemque studiosissime obsequi, firmiterque adhaerere, ac ger-
manam Catholicae Ecclesiae Doctrinam et Jura strenue tueri,
debitamque erga Apostolicam hanc Sedem et Christi his in
terris Vicarium Devotionem et Obedientiam omnibus inculcare
et omnes boni Pastoris partes quotidie magis explere in hac
prsesertim tanta temporum iniquitate. Pro certo etiam habe
Te apud Nos in pretio et honore esse et a Nobis vehementer
diligi. Atque praecipuae hujus Nostrae in Te benevolentiae
testeni et omnium Ccelestium Munerum auspicem esse
volumus Apostolicam Benedictionem, quam toto cordis affectu
Tibi ipsi, Venerabilis Frater, et Gregi Tuae curae commisso
peramanter impertimur.
Datum Romae, apud Sanctum Petrum, die 26 Octobris, anno
1865, Pontificatus Nostri anno vicesimo.
P. PP. IX.
[NEW SERIES.\
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
MAY, 1869.
CIVILIZATION AND ARTS IN ANCIENT IRELAND.
_i ROM the valuable notes on ornamentation given in the
" Cromlech of Howth," we learn that " before the irruption of
the Northmen, almost every Irish church of any note was pro-
vided with a costly reliquary and a cumdach, that is, a case
made of gold, embossed bronze, or silver, in which a copy of
the gospels and other sacred writings were enclosed, and
which was generally ornamented in the richest manner and
inlaid with precious stones."
In the numerous invasions from the wild Scandinavian
hordes who infested our coasts, many of these invaluable works
of Irish art were destroyed. Many also perished in the unfortu-
nate disturbances which attacked churches and monasteries in
the Reformation period. A few only remain to preserve to after-
ages evidences of the perfection attained by our early Christian
artists in the plastic art, in sculpture, casting, &c.
Two of the most interesting are connected with our national
Apostle, namely, the shrine known as "The Hand of St. Pa-
trick " and " The Bell of Armagh." The former is a silver
arm from the elbow downwards, with the right hand in the
position of blessing, and having on the second finger a repre-
sentation of the episcopal ring. It was constructed to preserve
a relic of our Apostle's arm, which was enshrined at Down in
1 1 86, — hence its name. It has no elaborate ornamentation.
Its history is ably given in an article of the " Dublin Review,"
December, 1847. It *s tne property of the Catholic Bishop of
Down and Connor, and a model of it may be seen in the
Museum of the Royal Irish Academy.
VOL. v. 24
3 5 o Civilization and A rts
The second relic, known as "The Bell of Armagh," is a small
hand-bell, traditionally reverenced as actually used by the
founder of our national church ; on that account we give an
accurate description of the bell itself, which we take from
H. O'Neill's work, " The Fine Arts of Ancient Ireland :"
" The bell is of two pieces of rather thick sheet iron, closely
riveted, with a very small loop-handle at the top ; the metal
is very much corroded. The shape is that peculiar to the
ancient Irish bells, namely — four straight sides, a little wider
below than above, and two of the sides a little broader than
the others. The bell is six inches high, four and three-quarters
by one and a half inches in width at the top, and five by
nearly four inches at the mouth. The handle is three inches
long, and the space within the handle little more than half an
inch. In an illustrated work on St. Patrick's Bell, published
in 1850, by Marcus Ward & Co., of Belfast, there is an excel-
lent article, to which we refer such of our readers as may desire
further information respecting this ancient bell. The case in
which the bell is enclosed, being an admirable specimen of Irish
oak, is the object of special interest to us." From an inscrip-
tion in the Irish language and letter on the back of this case,
we learn that it was made for Donnell O'Locklainn, monarch
of Ireland, who reigned from A.D. 1091 till 1105, so that it
may be said to belong to the twelfth century. O'Neill, in his
work just quoted, gives two beautiful coloured illustrations of
this shrine. The ornamentation is of the same character as
that of the Cross of Cong. O'Neill says of it — " The richness
and beauty of these two compositions are of the highest order.
The patterns within the circles have been given a peculiarly
delicate character in order that they may not interfere with
the effect of the compositions above and below them. . . .
The ornaments above and below the circles are very rich and
elegant compositions, designed by one who was perfect master
of his art ; and the execution is equally excellent." The bell
and case are the property of the Rev. Dr. Todd, and are kindly
deposited by him in the Museum of Trinity College for the
inspection of the public.
About the time when Petrie got the first sight of the Cross
of Cong in 1822, some alterations were being made at Lismore
Castle, the property of the Duke of Devonshire. Upon the
opening of a built-up recess in a wall, a valuable Irish MS.
and a bishop's crozier, richly decorated in the Irish style,
were discovered. This episcopal staff has since been known
as the Devonshire crozier. Its date is happily fixed by an
inscription in Irish upon it — "A prayer for Nial Mac Meic
^Educain ; for whom was made this precious work." " A
in A ncient Ireland. 351
prayer for Necktan, the artist who made this precious
work."
The "Annals of Inisfallen" inform us that a bishop named
Mac yEducain (now McGettigan) presided over Lismore,
and died in 1113. Hence the work belongs to the early part
of the twelfth century. We must refer the reader for a
full description of this crozier to O'Neill's work, where-
in are three exquisite coloured engravings of this valuable
specimen of Irish art. Some idea of its beauty is given by
a few words of our gifted countryman — "The great effect
which Nechtan has produced with the small means at his
command, must strike the most inexperienced observer. Gold,
silver, and niello ; or, in other words, deep yellow, white, and
dark blue, were almost the whole of his resources. Yet, out
of these very limited means how rich, varied, and telling is
the combination he has formed ! What modern work in
ornamental metal can excel the artistic effect which this old
crozier presents?"
Amongst the various objects of Ancient Irish Art in the
Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, besides those to which
we have already referred, we shall confine our attention to one
of special interest. It is of world-wide fame, and is known as
the Tara Brooch. The title is suggested by the principle
" Lucus a non-lucendo" It has no connection with Tara.
It was found in 1850 by the children of a poor woman, whilst
they were at play on a strand near Drogheda. It was sold by
her for a trifle to a watchmaker in Drogheda, from whom it
passed by purchase into the possession of Messrs. Waterhouse,
of Dublin. It bears no inscription, so that its date must be
fixed by a comparison with similar remains of Celtic art.
O'Neill and Petrie are here at variance. The former holds
that "the Tara Brooch belongs, at the latest, to the early part
of the Christian era, if — which is more probable — it be not a
relic of heathen times." For Mr. O'Neill, as a mere artist, we
entertain the highest respect, and therefore we take, with
fullest confidence, his estimate of the artistic excellence of the
brooch. But his knowledge of the history of Irish art is not
to be compared to Petrie's ; hence we incline much more to
the date assigned by the latter, who says — "The form and
general character of this brooch are Celtic, and, perhaps, Moor-
ish ; while they may belong to the most remote antiquity,
yet the arts shown in the workmanship of the details are those
which belong to that period when such arts were carried to
the greatest artistic perfection in Ireland — namely, the
eleventh century."
Civiliza tion and A rts
The minuteness of elaboration in the tracery of the Tara
Brooch, is amazingly beautiful. O'Neill tells us that— "The
brooch is formed of white bronze as a basis, which is covered
with a variety of ornaments in gold, silver, niello, variously-
coloured glass, and enamel. . . No language can convey an idea
of the wonderful delicacy of the workmanship of this relic."
It is now (1863) being exhibited at the South Kensington
Museum, and a writer in the Times has said that it is " more
like the work of fairies than of human beings." We have our-
selves heard the most practised and able jewellers say, "that so
wonderful is the workmanship, that they cannot be imitated
exactly at the present day. They have been executed in a
peculiar manner, unknown to modern times."
Enough has now been advanced, upon testimonies of the
greatest value, to establish the special, and altogether ex-
ceptional, excellence of the Irish nation in the departments
of design and execution, before the advent of the English to
our shores. It may seem astonishing to us at the present day,
how that excellence could ever have been questioned. But
the truth is — ignorance of our national history and utter heed-
lessnessof our national claims were the fashion with the educated
classes. The Catholics — to whom the glories of Irish art, inter-
twined as they were with their religion, in shrines, reli-
quaries, manuals of devotion, the lives of the Celtic saints, and
the holy Scriptures — the Catholics had such a battle for mere
existence that they had neither time nor heart for studies which
would teach them the value of the precious deposits in their
hands.
The reverence of the Irish for their graveyards, ancient
and modern, is one of the characteristics of our race.
Hence, in the ages of faith and prosperity, our forefathers
planted throughout the land, in the cemeteries which received
the remains of noble chief or sainted abbot, those beautiful
stone crosses which proclaim at once our creed and our civili-
zation.
" Placed midst the foxglove and the moss
Behold a 'parted warrior's cross !
That is a spot where, evermore,
The lady, at her shieling door,
Enjoys that, in communion sweet,
The living and the dead can meet."
Time, which has swept away so many monuments of ancient
Ireland, has dealt gently with our stone crosses. They are
planted firmly in the soil, like some great oak, fresh despite the
in Ancient Ireland. 353
wear of centuries. But the spirit which erected them was after-
wards broken and depressed. They were passed by unnoticed
and unprized. To George Petrie is due the credit of fixing public
attention upon them, and of vindicating the genius of the
artists by whom they were executed. The same tour which
in 1822 led to his "discovery" of the Cross of Cong enabled
him to visit Tuam. His searching eye sought out and found
scattered fragments of the stone cross of Tuam. He was at
once struck with its singular beauty.
" In the MS. of his Western Tour," says his biographer,
" written about the year 1822, he has the following passage : —
' I have still to describe another piece of antiquity, of which
no notice has hitherto been taken — the ancient market-cross
of Tuam. This monument, the most remarkable of its kind,
and the most splendid existing in Ireland, no longer remains
in the situation for which it was intended. It is broken into
three pieces, of which I discovered two lying in the church-
yard ; and the third, which was the base or pedestal, in the fish-
market, where it was covered over with a heap of stones and
rubbish. When together, it stood sixteen feet high, and is
composed of three blocks of sandstone, and all the sides are
covered with sculpture/ " Dr. Stokes informs us that Petrie
then goes on to comment on the designs of this cross, and the
similarity they bear to the ornamental designs of our ancient
MSS., showing that they belong to the same school of art as
that which existed in this country as far back as the sixth
century. The nature of the designs is also the same as that
of the rude tombstones of this early period, although the
execution is infinitely superior, and shows the progress in art
up to the twelfth century.
"The progressive decline of the fine arts in Ireland from the
end of the twelfth century is as yet an unwritten chapter in
the history of our country. Nevertheless, there are few cir-
cumstances in our annals that more strongly depict the debase-
ment which it was the unhappy fate of Ireland to have suffered
in those troubled times, or that more strikingly indicate the
indissoluble connection which ever exists between the cultiva-
tion of fine arts and the civilization, greatness, and happiness
of a people. If in such a state of barbarism as Ireland was
then reduced to, genius had arisen, it would have died like a
flower of the desert, unnoticed and unknown ; for it was not
the warrior's rude and bloody hand that could preserve and
cherish it, nor his yet ruder mind that could appreciate its
excellence and beauty ; the seed should be wafted to some
more genial clime before it could be" nurtured into yigour."-
" Dublin Penny Journal," vol. i.
--, Civilisation and Arts
In that passage of Petrie's, replete with the full but delicate
perfume of early spring violets, we see that our countryman
was no mere antiquarian. He was a master of pure English,
was gifted with great imagination, and had as complete power
of painting with the pen as with the brush. We deem it due
to his retiring and timid nature to give our full meed of praise
to his many-sided genius. Those who had the good fortune
to listen to Dr. Stokes lecturing, some two years ago, upon
Petrie as a landscape painter, or who have examined the ex-
quisite pictures of Irish scenery which Petrie has executed,
must be convinced that eminence awaited him, had he confined
himself to the brush alone. His picture of " Clonmacnoise "
bears the stamp of exquisite sensibility and expression. The
loneliness of the situation, not a single human figure in sight,
nought to break the silence at the twilight hour save the batch
of wild-duck, which, in the confidence of their solitary haunt,
are brooding over the sluggish waters of the Shannon — all
befit the scene of the deserted graveyard. —
" No heart was there to heed the hour's duration.
All times and tides were lost in one long term
Of stagnant desolation."
As Petrie was the first to call public attention to the cross
of Cong and to the stone cross of Tuam, so was it reserved for
him to awaken the interest of his countrymen in the ruins of
Clonmacnoise. In a letter written to Sir Bernard Burke, under
the date 24th Feb., 1860, Petrie says :—
"Mv DEAR SIR BERNARD — Let me premise that about
thirty years ago the architectural and other ancient remains of
Clonmacnoise, in the very heart of Ireland, and up to that
time but little known or noticed, excited in my mind a very
deep interest — so deep, indeed, that I resolved to collect all
the information it might be in my power to discover, with a
view to the compilation of a history of a locality so singularly
interesting."
We have read over, again and again, Petrie's description of
his first visit to Clonmacnoise ; and with a vivid recollection
of his oil painting of the ruins stamped upon our memory, we
are at a loss whether we should prefer the canvas or the
lettered page. As far as we can form any idea of the beauty
of word-painting, combined with the utmost simplicity of
language, we know not where we have met a passage
descriptive of Irish scenery to which we turn with greater
pleasure :
in A ncien t Ireland. 355
"FIRST VISIT TO CLONMACNOISE.
" The road from Shannon Harbour to Cluain M 'Noise
presents no interesting feature. At about a mile from Clon-
macnoise we ascended the hills, and saw the ivied round towers
on an eminence below us, but the Shannon was still concealed,
and neither the towers nor the scenery assumed a striking
character till on descending through these hills, we found
ourselves suddenly among the ruins on the bank of the great
river.*
" Here, indeed, we looked at each other with expressions
of excited astonishment, and involuntarily exclaimed, ' this is
worth having travelled for.'
" Let the reader picture to himself a gentle eminence on the
margin of a noble river, on which, amongst majestic stone
crosses, and a multitude of ancient grave-stones, are placed
two lofty round towers, and the ruins of seven or eight churches,
presenting almost every variety of ancient Christian architec-
ture. A few lofty ash trees, that seem of equal antiquity and
sanctity, wave their nearly leafless branches among the silent
ruins above the dead. To the right an elevated causeway
carries the eye along the river to the ruins of an ancient
nunnery, and on the left still remain the ruins of an old
castle, once the palace of the bishops, not standing, but rather
tumbled about in huge masses, on the summit of a lofty mound
or rath, surrounded by a ditch or fosse, which once received the
waters from the mighty stream, now no longer necessary.
The background is everywhere in perfect harmony with the
nearer objects of this picture ; the chain of bare hills on either
side, now sere and wild, but once rich with woodland beauty,
shut out the inhabitated country we so lately left, and the
eye and mind are free to wander with the majestic river
in all its graceful windings, in an uninhabited and uninhabi-
table desert, till it is lost in the obscurity of the distance !
Loneliness and silence, save the sounds of the elements, have
here an almost undisturbed reign. Sometimes, indeed, the
.attention is drawn by the scream of the wild-fowl which in-
habit this solitary region, or the shot of the lonely sportsman.
At other times we could hear the measured time of the oar —
or rather paddle — of a solitary boat, long before the little
speck in the water became visible ; and the melancholy
song of the shepherd or the milk-girl might sometimes be
* From a learned work now passing through the press, on Irish Local Names, by
P. W. Joyce, Esq., we learn that Cluain-mic-nois means "the meadow of the Son
of Nos. '
35 6 Civilization and A rts
heard in the boggy flat, although the singer was too remote
to be visible. To such sounds I have been glad to turn for
company during the course of the day.
"Readers who have had no experience of the feelings ex-
cited in the mind by scenes like this, can have little idea of
the deep effect they are capable of producing, and will,
perhaps, smile when I tell them that I have felt a degree
of regret when the song of the milkmaid ceased, and the
paddle of the boatman would be no longer heard, and when
the little dusk figure of the fisherman was no longer found
on the margin of the river, like the depression caused by
parting with a friend whom we do not expect to meet for a
long time again. This landscape, so striking and harmonious,
is rendered still more affecting by the appropriate figures of
groups of pilgrims, that give at once increased interest and
picturesqueness to the scene.
" This is but an outline of Clonmacnoise, such as may be
intelligible to general readers. The deep interest which this
astonishing place afforded in detail, can only be appreciated
by the enthusiastic painter or accomplished antiquary. The
former will understand the kind of delight with which I was
inspired by those groups of pilgrims, clothed in draperies of
the most picturesque form, and the most splendid and varied
colours. The aged sinner supported by his pilgrim's staff,
barefooted and bareheaded ; his large gray coat, the substitute
for the forbidden cloak or mantle, sweeping the road ; his
white hair floating on the disregarded wind ! The younger
man, similarly attired, whose face betrays the deepest guilt,
hurrying along with energetic strides. The females of all
ages, to whom uninquiring faith and enthusiastic devotion
seem natural and characteristic ; but, above all, the young and
beautiful girl, with pale face, blue eyes, long black eyelashes,
and dark hair, whose look betrays no conscious guilt in the
midst of her sighing prayers, but rather a feeling of love and
devotion ; who, notwithstanding her religious duties, is not so
entirely unconscious of the power of her beauty but that she
can spare an occasional glance towards the strangers who are
endeavouring to fix her figure on their paper, or on their
memories — a figure, as a friend well observed, that no one
but Raphael could draw ; such are the poor remains of the
once celebrated Ouainmacnoise, for a considerable time the
chief retreat, not alone of piety, but also of such learning
as the age possessed ; a place which the petty kings of
three provinces of Ireland contributed to adorn ; a spot so
sacred that all that were high in the land desired it as their last
resting place."
in A ncien t Ireland'. ' 3 5 ;r
The name of Petrie will ever be associated with the Round
Tower controversy. Before the publication of his well-
known essay, read before* the Royal Irish Academy in 1832,
the origin of the Round Towers was " lost in the twilight
of fable." Two years previously the Academy offered fifty
pounds and the gold medal to the writer of the best essay
on these interesting national memorials. Petrie won the
prize, and the essay which carried off the palm developed
itself into the magnificent quarto volume, in which the subject
is exhaustively treated. It would require a separate paper to
give even an outline of the various theories which have been
broached relative to the date of these towers, and the objects
for which they were built. We must refer the reader to Dr.
Stokes' work for the ablest and clearest statement of the
whole question to be met with. Petrie's theory is now uni-
versally accepted by the learned antiquarians of Ireland. Dr.
Stokes observes — " It has been said by a learned and witty
writer, that a ready method of testing the sanity or insanity of
an Irish antiquary is to ask him his opinion as to the Round
Towers."
Petrie's opinion, held by all "sane" antiquaries, is as follows:
" 1st — That the towers were meant to serve as belfries to the
Christian churches. 2nd — That they also were intended and
used as keeps or places of strength, in which the sacred uten-
sils, books, relics, and other valuables, were deposited, and
into which, the ecclesiastics to whom they belonged, could
retire for security in cases of sudden predatory attack."
Petrie then holds that they were not constructed before the
Irish became Christians, and that their construction ranges
from the sixth to the thirteenth century. His main argument
to prove that they could not be pre-Christian is : that before
the advent of our National Apostle, the Irish did not know
the use of cement or mortar, and were ignorant of the prin-
ciple of the arch. In support of these two points he appeals
to all the known remains of Pagan buildings in Ireland —
on the Boyne, in the Arran Islands, &c. No opponent of
Petrie's theory has attempted to adduce one single Pagan
building that shows in its construction any presence of mortar,
or any formation of arch. As these occur in all our Round
Towers, together with the Symbols of Redemption forming
part of the original doorways of some of the towers, there
seems to be no evading the force of Petrie's argument.
" O mystic tower, I never gaze on thee —
Altho' since childhood's scarce remember'd spring
Thou wert to me a most familiar thing —
358 Civilization and A rts
Without an awe, and not from wonder free :
Wild fancies, too, oft urge themselves on me,
Working as though they had the power to fling
The veil aside, year after year doth bring
More closely round them, thing of mystery !
Yes, thou dost wake within me such a sense
As few things earthly can, — thy airy brow
Hath felt the breeze for centuries immense ;
Who knows what hand hath raised thee, or how ?
And Time so much of his own reverence
Hath lent to thee, we venerate thee now." —
Quoted in the History of St. Canice's Cathedral
We observed in the first of these papers that there seemed
to be a radical incapacity in the Anglo-Saxon mind to do
justice to Celtic character — an inherent indisposition to value
the tone of our national mind, to understand our national
aspirations, or to appreciate our national genius. When we
turn from the flippant leader of the Times to the cynical
bitterness of the Saturday Review, we find the same hostility
showing itself in more vigorous onslaughts of unscrupulous
writers ; nor does the evil end here.
Mr. Matthew Arnold is an able, conscientious critic, who dis-
passionately weighs and calmly adjusts the balance — hence his
judgments command respect. Now let us hear him upon the
shortcomings of our Celtic race : —
" Ireland, that has produced so many powerful spirits, has
produced no great sculptors or painters." — (Study of Celtic
Literature.) It would be strange, indeed, if this were true.
That a people acknowledged to be gifted with great imagina-
tion, poetic instincts, and quickest sensibilities, should not
have given any examples of excellence in the sculptor's or
the painter's art, would seem a startling paradox. But it is the
old story — we are an inferior race — any good in us has been
borrowed from our Anglo-Saxon neighbours. In reply to Mr.
Arnold's criticism, we refer to Maclise and Barry, as painters,
and we note with pride the fact, that of the four artists now en-
gaged on the sculpture of the Albert Memorial for Hyde Park,,
two are Irish, M'Dowell and Foley. The latter has won
his way to the highest eminence, and stands unrivalled
amidst the living sculptors of these kingdoms. As Pericles,
when he got his artist, Phidias, employed him to decorate
Athens with those numerous statues which are the glory of
sculpture, so does it seem reserved for Mr. Foley to orna-
ment and beautify his native city of Dublin. We are gratified
to learn that the last commission he has received is to execute
in A ncient Ireland. 359
the statue of Henry Grattan. When to the graceful form of
Goldsmith, and the life-like energy of Burke, are added the
colossal figure of the great tribune of the Irish people, O'Con-
nell, and the impassioned vehemence of emancipated freedom
embodied in the form of Grattan, then may we with benefit
read these books lying open in our thoroughfares, to teach us
that we have Celtic names worthy of our best hero-worship.
But we must return from this pleasing digression to the
ancient sculpture of Ireland, and ask, what have we to show in
this department ? We answer at once — Go to Monasterboice
and examine the stone crosses there ; go thence to the centre
of Ireland and see crosses of the same character at Clonmac-
noise ; pass thence to Castledermot, and, having surveyed the
great cross there, proceed northwards and examine the Irish
stone cross at Drumclieff, and then show us any monuments
in England of the same date, so beautiful in design, so grace-
ful in form, so delicate as the interlacements which decorate
the arms of the Irish cross. England has truly reason to boast
of her glorious cathedrals. They are the evidences of Catholic
times, when the earnest faith of the people prompted them to
raise those palaces of religion. They are also the proofs of
splendid, artistic genius, devoted to the highest purposes of
Christian worship. But these gorgeous temples which cover
the land and delight the eye of the traveller —
" A thing of beauty is a joy for ever " —
such temples were erected long subsequent to the period
in which our exquisite stone crosses were executed. Dr.
Stokes, with that moderation and truthfulness which charac-
terize his admirable biography of Petrie, observes :
" The art of the carver or sculptor may next be considered ;
and to deny the quality of a certain beauty to the early stone
and metal work of Ireland, is only an example of a narrow pre-
judice. True it is that in the drawing of the figure, as seen in
the older MS. and in sculpture, whether in stone or metal, it is
easy to perceive a deficient power of execution and design ;
but even with such defects the old Irish artists are often most
successful in expression. In the Petrie Museum the small
metal shrine of St. Moedoc, which is of great antiquity, and
ornamented with bas-reliefs of ecclesiastics and holy women
in their early costumes, of an execution marvellously
delicate, the expression of the countenances is in a high degree
felicitous and varied ; arid, to come to later times, the crowned
effigies of O'Brien and O' Conor, at Corcomroe and Ros-
common Abbeys, exhibit a power of sculpture which may
Religion in Education
compare with anything of the same date in England. The
same admirable quality of expression may be seen in the
figure of the Saviour on the cross of Tuam, and in many other
examples. . . But it is in the variety of form, and the
exquisite tracery in metal work, that the skill and the taste of
the old artificers is mainly shown. The jewelled shrines of
the consecrated bells, as well as many of the earlier and even
of the later croziers, down to the fifteenth -century, exhibit great
power both in design and execution. This Irish art has been
by some styled barbarous. It may be presumed, in the same
sense, that the pointed architecture was called Gothic ; but to
him whose sense of beauty and of excellence is not narrowed
or tied down by formulae, it has, in all the qualities of pro-
portion, variety, and gracefulness, a singular and unapproach-
able beauty." r--^.
( To be continued.)
RELIGION IN EDUCATION AS AN INSTRUMENT
OF MENTAL CULTURE.
A LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE HISTORICAL, LITERARY, AND /ESTHETICAL
SOCIETY OF THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, BY THE
VERY REV. MONSIGNOR .WOODLOCK, D.D.
VV E have been accustomed to hear the arguments deve-
loped which prove the importance, or rather the necessity, of
uniting religious with secular instruction in the great work
of Education. With Bacon we have considered Religion as
the precious perfume of the sciences which hinders them from
corrupting the human heart — "aroma scientiarum" We know,
that it alone, by being the basis, the companion, and the
crown of the instruction of youth, can make that instruction
an Education which will fit man for the two-fold end of his
existence, to be for a while a worthy denizen of earth, and
thus to become an everlasting citizen of heaven. These holy
and supernatural advantages of Religion in Education are
often considered. But not so frequently, as it seems to me,
do we reflect on another very important part, which the
study of religious truth, and the scientific acquirement of
sacred knowledge ought to occupy in the education of a
Christian citizen ; and many persons, I think, do not suffi-
ciently bear in mind the grievous intellectual loss sustained
by those whose minds are submitted to a system of culture,
from which is excluded a study of Religion proportionate to
as an Instrument of Mental Culture. 361
the other parts of their Education. The acquirement of re-
ligious knowledge, corresponding to the extent of a youth's
secular information, is a most important element in his men-
tal culture ; and I ask your indulgence, while I endeavour
briefly to set before you some of the intellectual advantages
which arise from uniting the study of Religion with the cul-
tivation of other subjects, advantages which are jeopardised,
or lost, when religion is excluded from the schools.
The advantages to which I refer were thoroughly known
and appreciated in those ages of faith to which Christendom
is indebted for nearly all the institutions, intellectual, politi-
tical, or social, which form the basis of European civilization.
The minds of those great men, who drew order out of the
chaos of barbarism, were trained chiefly, though not exclu-
sively, by the study of religious truths. The authors of our
Irish Brehon Laws, Charlemagne, St. Edward the Confessor,
St. Lewis of France, to say nothing of the great fathers of
civilization, the glorious Popes, St. Gregory the VII. and In-
nocent the III., have left after them unmistakable signs,
that to the deep study of Religion were they chiefly indebted
for that mental culture which raised them so far above their
fellows, and enabled them to leave their mark upon the
world for ages.
But even those whose fundamental principle would, if
applied universally, sap the foundation of all doctrinal teach-
ing; even those who reject the authority of a divinely-appointed
teacher of Religion upon earth, admit in practice the truth
of the principle for which I contend ; and it is worthy of
remark, that some of the greatest . Protestant philosophers,
orators, and poets, borrow from the sacred pages, or from
the doctrines of the Christian Religion, their happiest illus-
trations or wisest maxims.
With your kind permission, then, I shall endeavour to show
what a valuable instrument of mental culture is to be found
in a deep and extensive study of Religion, corresponding to
the depth and extent of the other studies, in which a youth
happens to be engaged, and since we Catholics know that true
Religion, with all its attendant blessings, is to be found only
in the living teaching of the Catholic Church, I shall draw the
illustrations of my subject chiefly, although not exclusively,
from the doctrines and practices which distinguish Catholicity
from every other religious denomination.
The polish of the human mind, which is the fruit of a liberal
education, seems to me to consist chiefly: 1st, in sharpening the
reasoning powers ; 2ndly, in teaching the mind what is morally
good, that she may love it ; and 3rdly, in storing the imagina-
tion with images of the truly beautiful.
Religion in Education
Now this triple fruit is produced in a remarkable manner by
a systematic and deep study of the sacred truths of the Catholic
Religion, as a part of education in youth.
The first thing to be considered in any system of religious
teaching is ; the nature of the dogmas upon which it is founded.
Those fundamental truths or dogmas it is, which give a tone
to the whole body of doctrine ; they it is, which give to it
unity, consistency and strength ; which make it powerful for
good or evil over the minds of its adherents ; which are the
tessera or mysterious sign, by which its disciples are bound
together, are known to each other, and are recognised outside.
These truths or great principles exercise a most powerful
influence on all, who accept them as the foundation of their
belief, and as the foundation consequently of all their super-
natural hopes and most important interests. If these principles
be spiritual and sublime, they raise the mind, and fill it with
noble and exalted convictions ; if they be low and degrading,
the mind which is imbued with them, becomes degraded,
grovels in the mire of sensuality, and even adores the vilest
forms of depravity and vice. What is it, that has given its
peculiar tone to Christian Civilization and raised it so high
above the boasted civilization of Pagan Greece, or Rome, but
the holy principles and the sublime teachings of the Christian
Religion ? Now, in proportion as these sacred truths and
ennobling principles are brought home to each mind, their
effect in the individual case becomes more apparent to
all, and more fruitful of real advantage to the intellect and
whole man. And if we consider in particular the chief truths
proposed by the Catholic Church to the belief of her children,
we shall find the great force of these remarks. The doctrines of
the Trinity or of Three Divine Persons in one God, of the
Incarnation, of the Redemption of mankind by the sufferings
of a God made man, of the real presence of the same Man-God
in a permanent sacrament and continual sacrifice, of the living
teaching of the Spirit of God in an infallible Church, of the
presence on earth of one, who, although only a mortal and
weak man, is still God's Vicar on earth, and as such, invested
with power from on high, to be the ruler, and the unerring
teacher of all God's children : these doctrines, I say, exercise a
wonderful influence in the development of the human intellect ;
each one of them opens out, as it were, a new field on which
the mind and its faculties may expatiate, developing them-
selves, and becoming more and more thoroughly educated by
the study of subjects, which are at once the most sublime and
the most interesting, because they are the communications of
God to his creatures. And think not that I suppose that
as- an Instrument of Mental Culture. 363
these truths should be studied equally by all. The form of
Religious Education I advocate is one in which the study of
Religion would be in proportion to the rest of the intellectual
culture, for I maintain that, even as a Christian child,
acquainted with its catechism is, as has been well said, more
learned on many matters of the deepest import than were the
sages of old, and with its intellect more fitted for the know-
ledge of truth, and better stored ; so in every grade of learning
the Catholic Christian who has studied his religion systemati-
cally and deeply, has an intellect better prepared for the
appreciation of truth than his brother who has not enjoyed
the like advantage. And most assuredly the knowledge of
these Divine truths disposes the educated mind, and sharpens
its reasoning powers in order to the appreciation of the great
metaphysical truths regarding personality, and substance, and
essence, and being, and causes and effects, with many other
abstruse points, which are set before the intellect by the mental
and moral sciences.
The study of the doctrines and practices of the Catholic
religion promotes mental culture also to a remarkable extent,
by teaching the mind what is morally good, that she may love
it. And here I regard moral good, not under its usual and
holiest aspect, as it is referred to the service of our Maker, or is
the only source of true happiness ; but I look on it merely inas-
much as the lively appreciation of the true principles of moral
rectitude ennobles the soul, and enlarges and elevates the
mind ; in a word, I view it in the sense in which we may
apply to it the poet's words :—
" Emollit mores, nee sinit esse feros."
Now it seems to me that to deprive Catholic youth of the
opportunity of studying deeply and systematically the moral
principles and the sacred rites and the holy practices, prescribed
or recommended by their religion, and in use among her
children is, in truth, to deprive them of this great element of
mental culture. And who can express the valuable education
imparted to the mind, especially of youth, by studying the
gentleness, the purity, the holiness of the church's moral and
disciplinary code ? Who can tell the elevating influence of the
examples of her sainted heroes and heroines in every age, in every
station of life, in every imaginable variety of circumstances ?
Who can sufficiently explain the refining effect of her sacred
liturgy, acting through the senses as well as through faith on
the moral feelings of man ? It has been said, and with' great
truth, that the barbarians, who devastated the Roman Em-
pire, were civilized and changed into modern Christendom in
Religion in Education
a great measure by the glorious Ritualism of the Church ; by
her noble cathedrals, her gorgeous liturgy, her gentle but in-
flexible morality, her holiness. The great influence of her
teaching on the development and perfection of the fine arts,-
of painting, of sculpture, of music, has been explained by
much abler tongues than mine ; and no one doubts the im-
mense power exercised by these noble arts in civilizing, that
is, educating the masses and individuals. Who can say the
chastening effect of her solemn funeral rites, when with one
word she comforts the mourning survivors by pointing to the
glory of heaven and of its angelic citizens, and teaches them by
telling how Lazarus, once a beggar, enjoys a place which the
riches of earth cannot give ? Who can measure the salutary in-
fluence exercised on the mind and heart, and on the whole
man by the sacred ceremonies with which the Catholic Church
consecrates her sacred virgins to God ? Who can estimate the
ennobling sentiments inspired by the solemn ceremonies with
which she offers sacrifice to the Most High or ordains
ministers for His altar ? Now of each of these things, both as
regards generations an.d individuals, it may be said with
truth, emollit mores. With respect to one of the institutions
of the Church, to which I have referred above, and which is
most frequently misrepresented or maligned, I mean, the reli-
gious state, the illustrious Balmez says, with good reason :
" What man with a tender and sensitive heart can endure the
shameless declamation of Luther, especially if he has read the
Cyprians, the Ambroses, the Jeromes, and the other great writers
of the Catholic Church, on the sublime honour of the
Christian Virgin. Who, then, is there who will not rejoice to
see, during ages when the most savage barbarism prevailed,
those secluded dwellings where the spouses of the Lord
secured themselves from the dangers of the world, incessantly
employed in raising their hands to heaven, to draw down upon
the earth the dews of Divine mercy. In times and countries
the most civilized, how sad is the contrast between the asylums
of the purest and loftiest virtue, and the ocean of dissipation
and profligacy ? Were these abodes a remnant of ignorance,
a monument of fanaticism, which the coryphaei of Protestantism
did well to sweep from the earth ? Lf so, let us protest against
all that is noble and disinterested ; let us stifle in our hearts
all enthusiasm for virtue ; let everything be reduced to the
grossest sensuality ; let the painter throw away his pencil, the
poet his lyre ; let us forget our greatness and our dignity ; let
us degrade ourselves, saying, ' Let us eat and drink, for to-
morrow we die.' "
I have the more readily quoted these words of the great
as an Instrument of Mental Culture. 365
Spanish philosopher, because, unhappily, they have had of
late, a sad application in his own Spain, through the wicked-
ness of a few adventurers, despite the protests of that Catholic
people. And again, even within the last few weeks, we have
seen how ignorance or contempt of these noble sentiments
has made men and women — yes, and leaders of public opinion —
forget the respect and honour due to holy and devoted ladies,
who have given up their lives to the service of the poor
and the suffering.
The application of these principles towmy purpose is clear ;
and from them I conclude, that the doctrine and practices,
and even the sacred rites of the Catholic Church, teach the
mind what is morally good, and that, consequently, the study
of these sacred things, that is, the study of religion, enlarges and
ennobles the mind, and elevates by giving it a lively appre-
ciation of the true principles of moral rectitude.
The third fruit of a liberal education in refining the human
mind seems to me to consist in storing the imagination with
images of the truly beautiful. Now the study of religion pro-
duces this effect in a wonderful manner. And here I am
met on all sides with most numerous illustrations of my
meaning and proofs of my assertion.
First, then, I would remind you of the large extent to which
the sacred Scriptures are used by the greatest orators and
poets. Examples are, without doubt, familiar to you all. I
remember an occasion in which I had the pleasure of hearing,
in the House of Commons, one of the greatest orators — perhaps
the greatest orator — who now sits in the Imperial Parliament;
I mean Mr. Bright. His audience on that occasion was, in-
deed, an unwilling one — unwilling to hear the home truths,
but most unpalatable ones, he told, and still entranced every-
one by the marvellous strength, and sweetness, and eloquence
of his words. Every sentence he uttered entered into the
depths of his auditors' hearts ; but it is quite impossible for me
to express the effect on that vast assembly, when, to conclude
his soul-stirring address, he borrowed the language of inspira-
tion : —
" The noble lord, towards the conclusion of his speech, spoke
of the cloud which is at present hanging over Ireland. It
is a dark and heavy cloud, and its darkness expands over
the feelings of men in all parts of the British Empire. But
there is a consolation which we may all take to ourselves.
An inspired king and bard and prophet has left us words
which are not only the expression of a fact, but we may take
them as the utterance of a prophecy. He says, ' To the up-
right there ariseth light in the darkness.' Let us try in this
VOL v. 25
366 Religion in Education
matter to be upright. Let us try to be just, and that cloud
will be dispelled ; the dangers which we see will vanish ; and
we may have the happiness, perhaps, of leaving to our children
the heritage of an honorable citizenship in a united and pros-
perous empire."
And again, who has not admired the eloquent sentences
with which, referring to the sacred pages, the same orator
concluded his recent speech on the Irish Church Bill, now
before Parliament : —
" If I were particular as to the sacred nature of the endow-
ments, I should even then be satisfied wkh the propositions
in this bill— -for, after all, I hope it is not far from Christianity
to charity ; and we know that the Divine Founder of our faith
has left much more of the doings of the compassionate and
loving heart than he has of dogma. I am not able to give
the column, or the chapter, or the verse, or the page ; but
what has always struck me most in. reading the narratives of
the Gospel is how much of kindness and how much of com-
passion there was in them, and how much also there was of deal-
ing kindly with all that were sickly, with all that were suffering.
Do you think it will be less a misappropriation of the surplus
funds of this great establishment to apply them to some kind
of object such as that described in the bill ? Do you not think
that from the charitable dealing with these matters even a
sweeter incense may arise than when these vast funds are ap-
plied to maintain three times the number of clergy than are
of the slightest use to the church with which they are con-
nected? We can do but little, it is true. We cannot relume
the extinguished lamp of reason. We cannot make the deaf
to hear. We cannot make the dumb to speak. It is not
given to us —
From the thick film to purge the visual ray,
And on the sightless eyeballs pour the day.
But at least we can lessen the load of affliction, and we can
make life more tolerable to the vast numbers who suffer. When
1 look at this great measure, and I can assure the house that
I have looked at it much more than the majority of honourable
and right honourable members, because I have seen it grow
from time to time, and from clause to clause, and have watched
its growth and its completion with great and increasing interest,
look at this measure as one tending to a more true and
solid union between Ireland and Great Britain. I believe it
will give tranquillity to our people. When you have a better
remedy, I at least will fairly consider it. I repeat I see this
as an Instrument of Mental Culture. 367
-measure giving tranquillity to our people, greater strength to
the realm, and adding a new lustre and a new dignity to the
Crown. I dare claim, then, for this bill the support of all
thoughtful and good people within the bounds of the British
Empire, and I cannot doubt that in its early and great results
it will have the blessing of the Supreme, for I believe it to be
founded on those principles of justice and mercy which are the
glorious attributes of His eternal reign."
Now I have quoted these eloquent passages in order to give
a sample of the ennobling effect of the study of the Sacred
Scriptures in educating the human mind. The Catholic Church
has been accused of forbidding her children, especially the
laity, to study the sacred volume. This accusation you know,
gentlemen, is unfounded ; for we have the words written by
the glorious Pontiff, Pius VI., on receiving from the Arch-
bishop of Florence his Italian translation of the Holy Bible :
"Your sentiment is a sound one, when you desire to urge on the
faithful to a diligent study of the Sacred Scripture; for they
are a most copious fountain, open to all, that each may draw
from them holiness of life and doctrine, rejecting those errors
which are so prevalent in this corrupt age. And this, as
you say, has been fittingly done by your publishing the
sacred pages which you have translated into the vernacular
tongue, so that all may understand them ; especially since you
declare, and the work itself shows, that you have added notes
and remarks which you have taken from the writings of the
Holy Fathers, and which will guard readers from the danger
of error." Catholics then are not forbidden to study the Sacred
Scriptures, although they are forbidden to receive them from
other hands than from those of their infallible guardian, the
Church. Nay more ; most assuredly, a grievous intellectual
injury is inflicted on those young educated Catholics, who are
not allowed and even encouraged to become conversant with
the holy volume, under the guidance of her who is its divinely
appointed guardian, and in the manner she prescribes.
From the oratory of the senate I pass to the drama, and
from the sacred pages to the living teaching of the Catholic
Church. Every Catholic who studies the pages of the immortal
Shakespeare, must be struck by his frequent allusion to the
doctrines and practices of our holy religion, and by the touching
appeals, which through them he makes to the feelings. Among
a thousand similar passages I have been always struck by that
scene in Hamlet, where the Ghost, enumerating the injuries
received at the hands of a guilty brother, sets down as the
climax of them all, what every Catholic regards as well-nigh
the greatest of all misfortunes, viz., to be deprived of the last
363 Religion in Education
Sacraments, by which the Church prepares the dying Christian
to appear before his Judge:—
" Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand,
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatched ;
Cut off ev'n in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd ;
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head."
Hamlet— Act i, Sc. 5.
To take another instance : one of our contemporary British
writers, who (to say the least) is far from having the Catholic
instincts or mode of expression familiar to Shakespeare,
Lytton Bulwer, in his play of Richelieu, pays homage again
to the nobleness of the sentiments which the teachings and
practices of the Catholic church inspire. Even a London
audience has, I am told, been forced more than once, despite its
anti-Catholic prejudices, to applaud the sublime beauty of the
passage. Cardinal Richelieu is introduced endeavouring to save
his orphan ward Julie from King Louis XIII. Every means
has proved unavailing. A courtier is sent to the cardinal : —
" Pardon, your Eminence — even now I seek
This lady's home — commanded by the King
To pray her presence.
RICHELIEU.
To those ^who sent you !
And say you found the virtue they would slay
Here — couched upon this heart, as at an altar,
And sheltered by the wings of sacred Rome !
Begone !
COURTIER.
My Lord, I am your friend and servant —
Misjudge me not ; but never yet was Louis
So roused against you : shall I take this answer ?
It were to be your foe.
RICHELIEU.
All time my foe,
If I, a Priest, could cast this holy sorrow
Forth from her last asylum.
The messenger returns : —
My Lord, the King cannot believe your Eminence
So far forgets your duty, and his greatness,
As to resist his mandate ! Pray you, Madam,
Obey the King — no cause for fear !
as an Instrument of Mental Culture. 369
JULIE.
My father !
RICHELIEU.
She shall not stir !
COURTIER.
You are not of her kindred —
An orphan
RICHELIEU.
And her country is her mother !
COURTIER.
The country is the King.
RICHELIEU.
Ay, is it so ?
Then wakes the power which in the age of iron
Burst forth to curb the great, and raise the low ;
Mark where she stands ! — around her form I draw
The awful circle of our solemn Church !
Set but a foot within that holy ground,
And on thy head — yea, though it wore a crown —
I launch the curse of Rome !"
From this scarcely Catholic expression of beautiful Catholic
sentiment, which loves to consider the Holy Seeas the protector
of the weak, let us turn to one whose lovely language has
never been accustomed to express in matters of religion aught
but Catholic truth, and whose mind was thoroughly imbued
with the teachings and sentiments of the Church ; Fran-
cesco Petrarca. Among the beautiful Sonetti and Canzoni
of that exquisite poet I know of none more lovely, indeed
I doubt if in any language there can be found one more
exquisite, than the 49th Canzone. It is addressed to our
Blessed Lady, and each line is inspired by some one or other
of the beautiful truths which the Catholic Church teaches us
regarding Her, who is fair as the moon, chosen as the sun,
lovely as the morning dawn.
" Vergine bella, che di sol vestita,
Coronata di stelle, al sommo sole
Piacesti si, che'n Te sua luce ascose,
Amor mi spinge a dir di Te parole ;
Religion in Education
Ma non so 'ncorninciar senza tu 'aita,
E di Colui ch' amando in Te si pose.
Invoco lei che ben sempre rispose
Chi la chiamo con fede.
Vergine, s'a mercede
Miseria estrema dell 'umane cose
Giammai Ti volse, al mio prego T'inchina :
Soccorri alia mia guerra
Bench' i'sia terra, e Tu del ciel Regina."
A literary friend has favored me with the following beautiful
translation, which has the merit of being in the metre of the
original, and of being almost literal :—
Virgin of beauty, who in sun arrayed,
And crowned with stars, didst so the highest Sun
Please, that his own light he did in Thee hide,
To utter words of thee love spurs me on,
But how begin know not without thine aid
And his, who loving lay within thy side.
Her I invoke who always well replied
To faith-incited prayer.
Virgin, if pity e'er
Of woe extreme with human things allied
Hath moved thee, favoring to thy suppliant lean,
Bring succour to my strife,
Though I am earth, and thou of heaven art queen.
II.
Virgin of wisdom, of the fair band one
Of the blest virgins who were named the wise,
Yea, first of them, with brightest lamp displayed ;
O shield secure of whoso suffering lies
'Gainst every blow by death and fortune done,
Which gives, not refuge, triumph 'neath its shade :
O calming of that flame which still hath preyed
On foolish mortals here :
Virgin, those eyes so clear
Which once, in sadness plunged, the wounds surveyed
Stamped on thy Son's sweet limbs most cruelly,
Turn on my state perplexed,
That, wildered, doth for counsel come to thee.
as an Instrument of Mental Culture. 371
III.
Virgin of purity, perfection bright,
Daughter and Mother of thy offspring mild,
Who dost this life illume, that life adorn ;
Through thee th' Almighty Father's Son, thy child,
Thee, window of high heaven's most shining light,
Came us to save when dawned earth's latest morn ;
Above all other earthly dwellings borne,
Thou chosen wert alone,
Virgin, most blessed one,
That should Eve's sorrow to rejoicing turn,
Make, for thou canst, me fit His grace to prove,
Thou blissful without end,
Now crown'd with glory in the realms above.
IV.
Virgin of holiness, full of all grace,
Who by most true and deep humility
Didst mount to heaven from whence thou hear'st my
prayer;
Thou didst produce the fount of pity high,
The Sun of justice, who dispels all trace
Of error thick, of mortal's life the share :
Three names most sweet and dear 'tis thine to bear,
O mother, daughter, bride,
Virgin all glorified,
Queen of the King who us from every snare
Hath loosed, and freedom given and happiness,
In whose most holy wounds
Steep thou my heart, true source of blessedness.
V.
Virgin all peerless, who alone dost shine,
Whose beauties even in heaven all love secure,
Whose first, or like, or second, none hath viewed,
Whose thoughts and acts, all holy, pious, pure;
Of the true God the sacred living shrine
Rendered thee in thy fruitful virginhood.
Through thee life might for me have every good,
If, Mary, thou entreat,
Virgin, in pity sweet,
And grace abound where fault abounding stood.
My soul's knees I before thee humbly bend,
And pray that thou me guide,
And lead my tortuous way to happy end.
Religion in Education
VI.
Virgin renowned, constant for ever known,
Star shining bright o'er this tempestuous sea,
Of every faithful pilot trusty guide,
In what a fearful storm attend and see,
With rudder lost, I find myself alone,
And the last cries already close beside,
But yet in thee my soul doth still confide;
Sinful hath been its way,
Virgin, but thee I pray,
Let not thy enemy my woe deride ;
Remember how our sin made God to come,
And for our rescue's sake.
Take human flesh within thy virgin womb.
VII.
Virgin, what tears have I so often shed,
What flatteries and what prayers in vain sent forth.
All for my heavy pain and loss alone!
Since upon Arno's bank I had my birth,
Seeking now here, now there, my steps I've sped,
But nought has been my life but troubled moan,
With mortal beauty, acts, and speech, hath gone.
My soul embarrassed quite.
Virgin serene and bright,
Delay not ; my last year may soon draw on,
Swifter my days than arrow from the bow,
Mid miseries and sins,
Have passed, and only death awaits me now.
VIII.
Virgin, one now is earth, and leaves in woe
My heart, who living kept it tear-bedewed ;
Of all my thousand pains she none did see,
And had she seen, that which did happen would
Have happened ; other will for her to show
To me were death, to her were infamy.
But thou, oh, Queen of Heaven, Goddess (might we
Unblamed such name apply),
Virgin of wisdom high,
Thou seest the whole, and that which could not be
By her e'er done is nought to thy great power.
Put to my pain an end,
Twill honor thee, be my redemption's hour.
as an Instrument of Mental Culture. 373
IX.
Virgin, on whom my every hope I ground,
Who canst, and wilt, aid me in my great strife,
Forsake me not when rises my last moan ;
Not me, see him who deigned to give me life :
Let not my worth, but his high image, found
In me, move care of man so wo-begone,
Medusa and my fault made me a stone
Whence vain drops would distil ;
Virgin, do thou now fill
My weary heart with pious tears alone ;
Be my last plaint at least devoutly sped,
Free from all earthly soil,
As was my first not of mere folly bred.
X.
Virgin all lowly, enemy of pride,
Let love of him who made us both thee move :
Pity a heart with deep contrition fraught :
If for a poor frail mortal body love
With faith so wondrous used in me abide,
What shall to thee, sweet thing, by me be brought ?
If I from my vile wretched state be caught,
By thy hand raised again,
Virgin, I cleanse from stain,
And to thy name devote art, style, and thought,
And tongue and heart, and every sigh and tear.
Lead me the better way,
And to my changed desires give favoring ear.
XL
The day draws near, must nearer soon approach,
So doth the time speed on,
Virgin, thou only one ;
And conscience now, now death my heart reproach,
Me to thy Son not uncommended leave,
To him true man, true God,
That he my last sigh may in peace receive.
Although I have trespassed so much on your patience, still
I cannot refrain from another brief example of most beautiful
poetic inspiration caught from the teaching of the Catholic
religion. We find it in the exquisite lines pronounced, it is
Religion in Education.
%
said, by Metastasio, when about to receive the Most Holy
Viaticum in a dangerous illness :
" lo T'offro il proprio Figlio,
Che del suo amor in pegno
Racchiuso in picciol segno
Si vuol a me donar.
A Lui rivolgi il ciglio ;
Miralo in faccia, e poi
Lascia, Signer, -se puoi,
Lascia di perdonar."
For the translation of these lines I am also indebted to my
friend :
" Thine own dear Son I offer thee,
Enclosed in symbol small,
Who once a victim deigned to be,
Pledge of his love for all ;
Look upon him, one glance accord
To what I offer thee ;
Refuse, then, if thou canst, O Lord,
Refuse to pardon me."
I conclude; and in doing so I borrow the eloquent words
of one whose unworthy successor I am. "The Religion
which numbers Baptism and Penance among its Sacraments,
cannot be neglectful of the soul's training ; the Creed which
opens and resolves into so majestic and so living a theology,
cannot but subserve the cultivation of the intellect ; the Reve-
lation which tells of truths otherwise utterly hid from us,
cannot be justly called the enemy of knowledge ; the Worship
which is so awful and so thrilling, cannot but feed the aspira-
tions of genius, and move the affections from their depths." —
(Newman, Disc, on University Education, p. 28.)
The reasons as well as the examples I have given, serve
to show the important part occupied in education by religion
as an instrument of mental culture, and abstracting from its
holier and most important office of preserving knowledge from
corruption. Any educational system must, therefore, as far
as Catholics are concerned, be incomplete, and consequently
most faulty, which omits an element so effectual in sharpening
the reasoning powers, in teaching the mind what is morally
good, and in storing the imagination with images of the truly
beautiful.
375
REMARKS ON SOME STATEMENTS OF MARCUS
KEANE, ESQ., M.R.I.A., IN HIS WORK— "THE
TOWERS AND TEMPLES OF ANCIENT IRELAND."
HEN Petrie convinced the literary world by his im-
mortal work on the Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, that
the Round Towers were Christian in their origin and uses, it
was thought that the question was for ever set at rest, and
that in the face of the overwhelming evidence he succeeded in
bringing forward, Irish antiquarians would in future abandon
the shadowy arguments usually advanced to prove that they
were Pagan structures. But the theories of Vallancey and his
disciples were too seductive to be at once abandoned, and
during the twenty years that have elapsed since the appear-
ance of Petrie's work, they have been reproduced and re-argued,
often with no small amount of ability and enthusiasm, and by
men whose character and attainments entitled them to the
respect of their countrymen. These attempts to undermine
Petrie's solid foundation, have culminated in what is undoubt-
edly the most pretentious essay of all, "The Towers and
Temples of Ancient Ireland."
The author of this book adopts most of the theories of
Vallancey and O'Brien regarding the Round Towers, main-
taining that they were Pagan temples, erected centuries before
the Christian era ; he also undertakes to prove that not
only the Round Towers, but all the other structures erected
before the twelfth century, which we have been accustomed
to call early Christian — churches, oratories, crosses, baptismal
fonts, croziers, and crucifixes — are, without exception, pre-
Christian and Pagan in their origin and uses.
Mr. Keane maintains that a colony of Cuthites, a remnant
of the once powerful family of Cush, the son of Ham, in-
habited this island, previous to immigration of the Celts ;
that the Tuatha De Danaans, so celebrated in our bardic
histories, belonged to this race, and that they were the real
architects of all the stone structures found in this island
before the twelfth century.
He promulgates a theory still more singular and startling;
that, with the exception of St. Patrick and a few others, all
our great early Irish saints — St. Bridget, St. Columba, St.
Ciaran, St. Molaise, St. Finbar, and a host of others — names
remembered with pride, and cherished with affectionate vene-
ration by Irish Catholics, are purely fabulous ; nothing more
than the representatives of Indian and Canaanitish Heathen
376 Remarks on .Statements of Marcus Keane.
divinities, worshipped in Ireland centuries before the Christian
era. The whole Irish race, including all those great scholars
that have adorned our country for the last two hundred years-
men who knew the language, studied the literature, and mas-
tered the history of Ireland— all have laboured under an
extraordinary delusion, which is now for the first time dis-
pelled by Mr. Keane. To account for this unparalleled hal-
lucination, the author asserts that the monks and clergy of
the eighth and following centuries, in order to divert the wor-
ship of the people from Pagan to Christian objects, forged the
Latin " Lives," and ascribed them to imaginary saints, whom
they called by the names of the old Cuthite Gods, slightly
changed, in order more effectually to conceal their real
origin.
That Mr. Keane has proposed to himself a formidable
task, no one will deny ; it requires no small amount of hardi-
hood to come forward with the openly-expressed intention of
overturning the ecclesiastical history of a whole nation; and it
will be readily admitted that the man who professes to do so,
should be fortified with some sources of information, or some line
of argument unknown to previous investigators. Mr. Keane's
readers will in this respect be doomed to disappointment ;
the evidences he adduces in support of his positions are
nothing more than what has been often advanced before;
except, indeed, that he has the merit, such as it is, of ampli-
fying some of them far beyond what his predecessors had
attempted.
The book is little more than a reproduction of the writ-
ings of Vallancey and O'Brien. He has exhumed from the
obscurity into which they have long deservedly sunk, and
adopted to the fullest extent, most of their baseless specula-
tions and etymological dreams, and has added others' of his
own, more startling and visionary than any they ever con-
ceived.
It would be a weary and a very unnecessary task to
follow this writer through all his arguments ; most of them,
indeed, scarcely deserve the name of arguments, and the
wonder is that the author could bring himself to believe
that any man in his senses would be convinced by the sort
of evidence he has adduced.
It would seem to be necessary that a man who under-
takes to decide questions in Irish philology, should know
the Irish language, and Mr. Keane accordingly tells his
readers that he possesses "some knowledge" of the language,
and elsewhere speaks with the air of a man who wishes it to
be understood, that he is quite capable of appreciating its
Remarks on Statements of Marcus Keane. 377
peculiarities arid its beauties. He soon undeceives his readers,
however ; and, as he proceeds, it becomes perfectly evident
that he possesses no knowledge whatever of the Irish lan-
guage, its structure, or its grammatical laws.
Yet he does not hesitate to contradict such men as John
O'Donovan on the meanings of Irish words, and he decides
philological questions against the concurrent testimony of
the greatest Irish scholars that ever appeared, with the
utmost complacency, and with all the happy unconsciousness
of a blind man walking over a precipice.
One of the strongest arguments that Mr. Keane calls to
his aid is the long-exploded method of conjectural etymol-
ogies. This was formerly a favourite weapon in the hands
of visionary antiquarians ; in our own country, Vallancey and
O'Brien were the great manipulators in this kind of literary
legerdemain, and our author fully equals them in fertility of
imagination. In order to exhibit the kind of evidence by
which Mr. Keane expects to convince his readers, we will
examine a few of them.
He revives the oft-told story that the ancient name of
Ireland was Irin, and that it means, Sacred Island. How-
ever much we might be inclined to overlook this error in a
writer of fifty years ago, an author of the present day, with
all the modern discoveries in Irish philology within his reach,
deserves no such indulgence. It is well known that the final
n in Erin does not form a part of the name at all ; it is
merely a portion of the oblique inflexion, the most ancient
native form of the nominative case being Erin, of which the
genitive is Ereann, and dative, Erinn. Consequently, in
searching for the etymology of the name, we must work on
the form Erin, leaving the n out of consideration altogether.
Baltinglas, the name of a town in Wicklow, seems to have
had a very special attraction for our etymologists. O'Brien
restores it Baal-tinne-glas, which he translates Baal's-fire-
green. Seward has it, the fire of Baal's mysteries ; and our
author, professing to follow Lewis, translates it, " The fire of
the green Ball," in which, however, he misquotes ; for Lewis
gives the ancient form Baal-Tin-Glas,and renders it the pure fire
of Baal. And here it is proper to make a remark regarding the
authorities quoted by Mr. Keane, for the character of a book
may be very fairly estimated by the character of the authorities
on which the writer relies. For many of the innumerable er-
roneous assertions in his book, he quotes Ledwich and Henry
O'Brien, the former remarkable for his vindictive charlatanism
in all things relating to the history of the Catholic Church in
Ireland, and the latter the author of one of the most non-
378 Remarks on Statements of Marcus Keane.
sensical books that ever appeared in print. He quotes Lewis's
" Topographical Dictionary," which, however useful as a com-
pilation, is utterly worthless as an authority regarding the
origin of names. He adopts the "Chronicles of Eri," and
seriously quotes from it, though it is well known to have been
a very contemptible forgery.
But, to return to Baltinglas. Even supposing that we were
ignorant of the ancient form of the name, any of the interpre-
tations given above would be perfectly worthless, based as they
are upon the modern corrupt form, or on random restorations ;
and this by men who knew nothing of the language or of the
laws of phonetic change in Irish names. And even sup-
posing the restorations to be correct, they could not bear the
meaning put on them, nor indeed any meaning at all, for they
are mere gibberish.
We know, however, the original name of Baltinglas, which
sets the matter at rest. In all our written authorities it is
written Bealach-Chonglais, which is a plain compound signify-
ing Cuglas's-road. So well was this understood that our old
romancers have given a history — whether true or not is -a
matter of no consequence to the present inquiry — of Cuglas,
who has left his name imperishably fixed -on the locality ; he
was, according to them, the son of Donn Desa, King of Leinster,
and master of the hounds to Conaire Mor, monarch of Ireland.
It would be impossible and useless to follow this writer
through the vast maze of haphazard etymologies scattered
through his book — abounding almost in every page. They
neither deserve nor require serious refutation, for no man in
his senses would give them a moment's consideration, and it
may be questioned how far the author himself was serious in
putting them forward. A few more specimens may, however,
be given to show more clearly their general character. Cluain
is a very common Irish word, denoting a meadow, and usually
translated pratum by the Latin writers. Vallancey conjectured
that it is derived from Cul-luain, the return of the moon, but
our author is much more adventurous ; for, first, he asserts, on
his own authority, that it was originally applied to a pillar-
stone, and afterwards to a meadow ; and, secondly, that it was
derived from Clochain, trre stone of Ana,, the mother of the
Gods ! In this case Ana must have been worshipped in a
vast number of places, for there are about three thousand
localities in Ireland whose names are partly formed from this
word Cluain.
Adamnan, who wrote the "Life of St. Columba," about the
close of the seventh century, translates Tir-da-glas (the modern
Terryglass, in Tipperary), Ager-duorum-rivorum ; but Mr.
Remarks on Statements of Marcus Keane. 379
Keane knows better than Adamnan, for he finds that it means
the Tower of the Green God. Tir, tower ; da, God ; glas,
green !
Ardmore is a name of frequent occurrence in Irish topo-
graphy ; there are altogether nearly thirty Ardmores in diffe-
rent counties. Latin writers often translate it altitude magna ;
and every Irish-speaking peasant will tell you that it means great
height. Mr. Keane, however, first corrupts it to Ardimore,
and then nonsensically translates it "The high place of the
great God."
Diseart is an Irish word applied to a sequestered place — a
hermitage ; scholars know that it is only borrowed into Irish
from the Latin desertum, and accordingly Latin writers translate
it variously, eremus, desertus locus, and desertum. According
to Mr. Keane, however, it means in reality a round tower, a
discovery entirely his own, and is a corruption of Di-eas-ard,
the high place of the God of death !
It is difficult to conceive what could induce any writer to
question the existence of the Irish saints, a class of men
whose history is as well authenticated as that of Julius Caesar,
or Henry VIII., unless it be a mere passion for notoriety.
The author himself seems to have some lurking suspicion
that his assertions are rather too much for even the most cre-
dulous reader ; for, first, he accepts " St. Patrick and a few
others" — but who the few others were he does not state;
and secondly, he says, more than once, that although the
early saints never existed, yet he has no doubt that other
illustrious men bearing the same names, flourished afterwards.
In other words, the great men whose history is so remarkable,
and whose lives are recorded with such affectionate minute-
ness, are nothing but myths, while those who have never been
commemorated at all, happen to be the only individuals
who had a real existence ; a historical phenomenon which
cannot fail to astonish the literary world.
As in case of his etymologies it is impossible not to feel that,
by dealing seriously with such assertions, one involves himself
to some extent in the ridicule that is so justly due to the
author, yet it may be worth while to ask whether this writer
ever reflected on the testimony given by the Venerable Bede, not
to mention many other witnesses, who notices several of the
individuals that Mr. Keane consigns to heathenism or nothing-
ness ; for it seems probable that he will not reckon this
great historian as one of the sacerdotal conspirators.
The identifications of the names, of Irish saints with those
of the heathen divinities, are many of them very amusing,
and undoubtedly original. "St. Qissenea/tasQssan, alias Ussen,
380 Remarks on Statements of Marcus Keane.
derived from Oceanus the Titan, also answering to Oissen,
or Oishin, the Finian hero, and the father of Irish bards."
The author seems not to be aware that the soft c in Oceanus
is only a modern corruption, and that the original name is
Okeanos. An Irish name formed on Okeanos, would have in
place of k, not an s, but a hard c in the ancient, or a hard g
in the modern language ; just as sacerdos is represented by
sacart and sagart (c and g hard) ; for sacerdos was originally
pronounced sakerdos, and the Irish word, which was borrowed
in the fifth century, has preserved the hard sound of c, which
has been changed to that of s in English, according to the
phonetic law of the language. And we have in fact, an Irish
word aigein for the ocean, which is either cognate with or
derived from this word oceanus.
" It is an important fact, accounting for the care with which
ancient names and words were preserved, that the peasants
always committed those legends to memory, repeating the
stories verbatim, as handed down from one generation to
another. Thus they came to use many obsolete words, which
they were most careful to repeat unaltered ; and stopping in
the story to interpret such words was not the least interesting
part of the entertainment.
" These circumstances account for the fact that, the intel-
ligent Irish Ecclesiastics found it impossible to erase from
their calendar such names as Dagan and Molach — the heathen
origin of which they could not fail to observe. All that
remained was to give them aliases, such as Dagens and Mo-
laise, or else to alter the orthography so as in some^measure to
conceal the derivation. The written language was almost
exclusively in the custqdy of the clergy, but the original
sound of the names was preserved with wonderful correctness
in the oral traditions of the peasantry, and could not be very
much altered.
" A remarkable example of this is found in the name of the
Devil, which in Irish is 'Dia Bal' (literally the god Baal),
but sounded Diul ; and accordingly we find Saint 'Di[ch]ul'
was introduced. It is pronounced as if the bracketed letters were
omitted, exactly like the Irish name of Satan, 'Diul'— this is
one of the names in which sanctity seemed to be inherent, as
twelve saints are said to have borne it— 'St. Devil, in Irish!' "
(P- 52.)
This passage, which is a fair specimen of the whole book,
contains almost as many misstatements as there are sen-
tences. Passing over several of minor importance, let us
examine his assertions as to names : Molaise is only a frau-
dulently altered form of Molach, and he leaves his readers
Remarks on Statements of Marcus Keane. 381
to infer that the peasantry always yse the latter form ; but
no peasant in Ireland ever calls the saint by any other name
than Molaise. The first syllable is one of the two well-known
particles, mo and do, or da (my and thy), often prefixed to
the names of Irish saints as terms of endearment ; and ac-
cordingly this saint is also often called Laisrean or Laserian.
And these two particles are often used indifferently, as the
patron saint of Kilmallock is sometimes called Mocheallog,
and sometimes Lacheallog. If Mr. Keane had been aware
of these facts he would scarcely have recognised Molach in
either Molaise or Kilmallock, for he does so in both.
As for Dagan being a fictitious name, it is enough to re-
mark that Bede (" Eccl. Hist.," lib. 2, cap. 4) records an Irish
bishop Dagan as one of his cotemporaries.
The etymology given for Diabhal is too ridiculous to be
seriously examined ; only it may be remarked that the Irish
Diabhal, the French Diable, the German Teufel, the English
Devil, &c., are all well known to be only modified forms
of the Latin Diabolus, introduced by the early Christian mis-
sionaries, which is itself from the Greek Diabolos. And for
the identification of St. Dichul with the devil, the author may
be left in undisturbed possession of the discovery ; only it is
necessary to remark that Di[ch]ul is not pronounced as if the
bracketed letters were omitted ; on the contrary, every Irish
scholar knows that the ch has a remarkably distinct guttural
sound.
The following passage, in which he merely follows O'Brien,
is interesting only so far as it illustrates the extent of our
author's knowledge of Irish : — " The name of this Budhist In-
carnation of the Divinity — Sullivahana — is strikingly like the
name Sullivan. The latter may be interpreted ' The seed of
the woman,' from ' siol,' seed, and ' a-van,' of the woman."
The man who asserts that he has " some knowledge " of the
Irish language, and who undertakes to settle questions in
Irish philology, ought to know that the genitive of an bhean
(the woman), is not a-van, nor anything like it, but na mna in
every Irish authority, from the MSS. of Zeuss down to the
spoken language of the present day.
" Astoreth (pronounced ashtorech), a term in common use
among the Irish, signifying ' my love, or treasure' " (p. 468).
"The Irish term . astoreth or astorech, corresponds so exactly
with Astoreth, the Phoenician Venus, as to leave no doubt of
both terms having the same origin" (p. 297). In thus identify-
ing the Irish term astore (in such expressions as " Molly
astore ") with Astorath, the author is again led "by O'Brien.
The latter, however, very probably knew well that he was
VOL. v. 26
382 Remarks on Statements of Marcus Keane.
writing what was false, as he appears to have had at least a
colloquial knowledge of Irish ; for everyone who can speak the
language knows that astore, or more correctly a star, is the
vocative case of the word stor, i.e., treasure, which is obviously
connected with the English word store. The initial A is not
a part of the word ; it is merely the vocative particle, and is
commonly translated by the English interjection O. And
stor is, in fact, used as often with the prefix mo (my) as with a,
for we all know that mastore is as common as astore.
The present writer, notwithstanding that he has "some
knowledge of Irish," is evidently unaware of all this, and
blindly follows his treacherous guide, venturing even farther
on his own account. In order to show more fully the identity
of the word with the name of the Pagan Goddess, he makes
it astoreth, which he says is pronounced astorech. Astoreth is
not an Irish word at all, and even if it were, it would not be
pronounced astorech. Stor is, indeed, often lengthened storach
by the addition of the suffix ach, which is very common in
Irish, and is cognate with the Latin termination ax ; and
this, when used in the vocative, becomes astorach, a very
different word from astoreth.
Our author's manner of carrying on a chain of reasoning is
well illustrated by his argument regarding Goban Saer, in
which he is partly original, and partly follows O'Brien. Goban
Saer is a personage traditionally remembered in every part of
Ireland as a celebrated architect, and the builder of many
of the round towers ; according to the most reliable authorities,
he flourished in the seventh century. Petrie quotes a passage
from the " Book of Ballymote," in which it is stated that it was
not known from what race he sprung ; but the ancient writer
conjectures, on account of the colour of his hair, that he
might have descended from the Tuatha De Danaans.
In this passage Goban is styled "The rusty, large black
youth" (Giolla mergeach mor dubJi}, and the Tuatha De
Danaans " The goodly dark race" (sil degdair dubh). Every
man having the least knowledge of Irish knows well that the
term dubh is applied to a person with black hair, or dark com-
plexion, and so Petrie correctly interprets it. Mr. Keane,
however, holds a different opinion, which will best be under-
stood by allowing him to speak for himself.
" In the countries whither the reputation of the Cuthites
extended, and their worship prevailed, such as Ireland, China,
and India, and very ancient Egypt, the hero of the people's
worship was represented as black. Hislop informs us (pp. 62
and 82) that 'the great God Buddh is generally represented
in China as a negro; and that Plutarch records a tradition
Remarks on Statements of Marcus Keane. 383
that Osiris was black. These names Hislop identifies with
Nimrod. So also in Ireland, 'Gobban Saer/ the Tutch de
Danaan Hero, of building celebrity, is represented as a 'rusty
black youth' (p. 230). Again: — ' The only historical refer-
ences made to the colour of the Tuath-de-Danaans, describe
them as black' The ' rusty, large black youth, Gobban Saer/
and his 'black race/ thus far answering to the black divinity
of the Chinese Budhists, and to Osiris above mentioned '
(p. 235). And lastly:— 'I think the Doctor (i.e., Dr. Petrie)
would have been more correct if, instead of the 'blackness of
his hair,' he had used the words, the 'blackness or darkness
of his skin' The Irish poem refers not only to the colour of
Gobban himself— the rusty, large black youth, but to 'the
goodly dark race/ the Tuath-de-Danaans, who, as descendants
of Ham, may be supposed to have been dark-skinned. The
'darkness of the race' referred to in this ancient poem, is cor-
roborative of the other evidence before adduced, to prove the
Cuthite origin of the Tuath-de-Danaans " (p. 290.)
So then it appears that Goban Saer was really a black, and
the Tuath de Danaans a race of blacks, and consequently they
were Cuthites, the descendants of Cush, the son of Ham !
According to this, Ireland has at all times produced, and
still produces, abundance of blacks ; for the "Annals of the
Four Masters" mention no less than ninety-seven persons
whose names begin with the word Dubh, besides innumerable
others with such names as Finghin Dubh, Domhnall Dubh, &c.
Mr. Keane might have learned the proper use of the word
from the peasantry in his own county of Clare, where they
sing the well-known song, "Rois gael dubh" a lady whom
even Mr. Keane will hardly maintain to have been a black.
The whole work is built up of such reasoning as this, and
these are the species of arguments that are put forward to
prove that the church ruins and other Christian remains that
abound in our island, are all Pagan, and that our long and
glorious race of saints is a myth — the invention of priests and
monks — the shadowy representatives of centaurs, demons, and
obscene Pagan divinities.
The book is well brought out, good paper, clear type, and
handsome binding; it is profusely illustrated, and the engrav-
ings are beautifully executed; but the greater number of
those on Irish subjects are from Petrie*s two volumes, the
published and the unpublished one, on the Round Towers.
In nothing else can it be recommended. Irish history and
antiquities, more than those of any other country, require
illustration. The materials are there, and we have men indeed
of ability and learning, but they are too few, Mr. Keane is
384 Remarks on Statements of Marcus Keane.
not one of them ; his book adds nothing to our literature, it is
an anachronism, a retrograde step of fifty years; it is a tire-
some repetition of views and arguments long since exploded,
unrelieved by that charm of novelty, of learning, or of acute-
ness in reasoning, which often renders even an erroneous
book attractive.
When Mr. Keane undertook to bring into discredit every-
thing that Irish Catholics hold dear in the ecclesiastical history
of their country, it should be expected that his book would
not be allowed to go forth unchallenged. But its character is
its safeguard ; it is beneath the notice of scholars — sufficiently
secured from any serious attempts at refutation, by its shal-
lowness, its silliness, and its grotesque absurdity.
LITURGICAL QUESTIONS.
" I beg respectfully to submit a few questions regarding
which I would be very much obliged to be informed, and re-
garding which I have never been able to find any authoritative
explanation. And I may mention that I have frequently
heard other Clergymen talk over the same in rather an un-
certain way, as regards what is right in the matter. The
questions I submit for explanation are: —
"ist. — In reciting the 'Acts of Contrition/ &c., and the other
prayers usually recited before Mass, on Sundays and holidays,
is the Maniple, or Chasuble, or both, to be on or off the priest ?
"2nd. — When the bishop orders the Litany of the B.V.M.,
or any other Litany, to be recited by the priest before Mass,
for any particular purpose, as is often done, is the Maniple or
Chasuble, or both, to be on or off during the reciting of such
prayers ?
"3rd. — In case the priest preaches from the altar sfeps, as
mostly happens in country churches, is the Maniple or Cha-
suble to be on or off? I know from experience that different
practices prevail in different parts of Ireland regarding those
queries ; and I would be very miich obliged to be informed
what is the correct practice regarding the above questions.
"An answer to the above questions in the next issue of the
'Record' would oblige a constant reader of the 'Record/
"DUNENSIS ET CONNORENSIS.
" April loth, 1869."
We give the letter of our esteemed correspondent in full, in
the hope that some of our Liturgical readers may be able to
illustrate in detail the questions which he proposes. For our-
selves, we can only say, at present, that the use of the
Liturgical Questions. 385
Chasuble and Maniple in the three cases referred to, is very gene-
ral in this country — that it is known to our bishops, and
tolerated by them — and that we have not met with any
decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites condemnatory of
it Such being the case, it would be presumptuous, indeed,
to censure in Ireland this use of the Chasuble and Maniple.
At the same time, it must be admitted that this custom is
not generally followed in the Continental churches. Rubricists,
too, lay down, as a rule, that the use of the Chasuble and
Maniple should be restricted to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
We will merely cite the words of the learned treatise,
" Origines. et Raison de la Liturgie Catholique," published by
Migne, in 1844: —
" Dominic Macri, a Rubricist of the seventeenth century,
writes that a priest should only use the Maniple at the altar
whilst celebrating the Holy Sacrifice, and never at any other
function, even though he should wear the Chasuble ; as, for
instance, in the Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, before or
after Mass, &c. This decision must appear to us most con-
formable to reason and ritual, if we reflect on the origin of the
Maniple, which has reference solely to the Sacrifice of the
Mass" (p. 750).
It would not be difficult to produce many examples in il-
lustration of the rule thus laid down by this learned Rubricist.
One for the present shall suffice. At the Asperges, which im-
mediately precedes the Parochial Mass in Italy, France, and
other Catholic countries, it is expressly prescribed that the
Maniple should not be worn. We may add that the reason
which is generally assigned for laying aside a portion of the
sacred vestments at this and similar ceremonies, either before
or after Mass, viz. — lest the faithful should be led to suppose
that such prayers or ceremonies formed part of the ritual of the
Holy Sacrifice — would seem to hold also for the cases referred
to by our Correspondent.
DOCUMENT.
ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE
PIUS IX., IITH APRIL, 1869, GRANTING A
JUBILEE TO THE WHOLE CHURCH.
OMNIBUS CHRISTIFIDELIBUS PRAESENTES LITTERAS INSPECTURIS.
PIUS PP. IX., SALUTEM ET APOSTDLICAM EENEDICTIONEM.
N
EMO certe ignorat, Oecumenicum Concilium a Nobis
fuisse indictum in Basilica Nostra Vaticana die 8 futuri
2 86 Document.
mensis Decembris Immaculatae, Sanctissimaeque Deiparae
Virginis Mariae Conception! sacro inchoandum. Itaque hoc
potissimum tempore nunquam desistimus in humilitate cor-
dis Nostri ferventissimis precibus orare et obsecrare clemen-
tissimum luminum et misericordiarum Patrem, a quo omne
datum optimum, et omne donum perfectum descendit (:), ut
mittat de caelis sedium suarum assistricem sapientiam, quae
Nobiscum sit, et Nobiscum laboret, et sciamus quid acceptum
sit apud eum (2). Et quo facilius Deus Nostris annuat votis,
et inclinet aures suas ad preces Nostras, omnium Christifi-
delium religionem, ac pietatem excitare decrevimus, ut,
coniunctis Nobiscum precibus, Omnipotentis dexterae aux-
ilium, et caeleste lumen imploremus, quo in hoc Concilio ea
omnia statuere valeamus, quae ad communem totius populi
christiani salutem, utilitatemque, ac maiorem catholicae
Ecclesiae gloriam et felicitatem, ac pacem maxime pertinent.
Et quoniam compertum est, gratiores Deo esse hominum pre-
ces si mundo corde, hoc est animis ab omni scelere integris ad
ipsum accedant, iccirco hac occasione caelestes Indulgentiarum
thesauros dispensation! Nostrae commissos Apostolica libe-
ralitate Christifidelibus reserare constituimus, ut inde ad veram
poenitentiam incensi, et per Poenitentiae Sacramentum a pec-
catorum maculis expiati, ad Thronum Dei fidentius accedant,
eiusque misericordiam consequantur, et gratiam in auxilio op-
portune.
Hoc Nos consilio Indulgentiam ad instar lubilaei Catholico
Orbi denunciamus. Quamobrem de Omnipotentis Dei mise-
ricordia, ac Beatorum Petri et Pauli Apostolorum eius
auctoritate confisi ex ilia ligandi, ac solvendi potestate, quam
Nobis Dominus licet indignis contulit, universis ac singulis
utriusque sexus Christifidelibus in alma Urbe Nostra degen-
tibus, vel ad earn advenientibus, qui a die primo futuri mensis
lunii usque ad diem, quo Oecumenica Synodus a Nobis in-
dicta fuerit absoluta, S. loannis in Laterano, Principis Apos-
tolorum, et Sanctae Mariae Maioris Basilicas, vel earum
aliquam bis visitaverint, ibique per aliquod temporis spatium
pro omnium misere errantium conversione, pro sanctissimae
fidei propagation^ et pro catholicae Ecclesiae pace, tranquil-
litate, ac triumpho devote oraverint, et praeter consueta qua-
tuor anni tempora tribus diebus, etiam non continuis, nempe
quarta et sexta feria, et Sabbato ieiunaverint, et intra com-
memoratum temporis spatium peccata sua confessi Sanctissi-
mum Eucharistiae Sacramentum reverenter susceperint, et
pauperibus aliquam eleemosynam, prout unicuique devotio sug-
geret, erogaverint, ceteris vero extra Urbem praedictam ubi-
cumque degentibus, qui Ecclesias ab Ordinariis locorum, vel
JS. lac. c. i, v. 17. 2 Sapient, cap, 9. v. 4, 10.
Document. 387
eorum Vicariis, seu Officialibus, aut de illorum mandate,
et, ipsis deficientibus, per eos, qui ibi curam animarum
exercent, postquam ad illorum notitiam hae Nostrae Lit-
terae pervenerint, designandas, vel earum aliquam prae-
finiti temporis spatio bis visitaverint, aliaque recensita opera
devote peregerint, plenissimam omnium peccatorum suorum
remissionem et Indulgentiam, sicut in anno lubilaei visitantibus
certas Ecclesias intra, et extra Urbem praedictam concedi
consuevit, tenore praesentium misericorditer in Domino con-
cedimus atque indulgemus, quae Indulgentia animabus etiam,
quae Deo in caritate coniunctae ex hac vita migraverint, per
modum suffragii applicari poterit.
Concedimus etiam, ut navigantes, atque iter agentes quum
primum ad sua se domicilia receperint, operibus suprascriptis
peractis, et bis visitata Ecclesia Cathedrali, vel Maiori, vel
propria Parochiali loci ipsorum domicilii eamdem Indulgentiam
consequi possint, et valeant. Regularibus vero personis utri-
usque sexus etiam in claustris perpetuo, degentibus, nee non aliis
quibuscumque^ tarn laicis, quam saecularibus, vel regularibus
itemque in carcere, aut captivitate existentibus, vel ali-
qua corporis infirmitate, seu alio quocumque impedimento
detentis, qui memorata opera, vel eorum aliqua praestare
nequiverint, ut ilia Confessarius ex actu approbatis a locorum
Ordinariis in alia pietatis opera commutare, vel in aliud proxi-
mum tempus prorogare possit, eaque iniungere, quae ipsi
poenitentes efficere possint cum facultate etiam dispensandi
super Communione cum pueris, qui nondum ad primam Com-
munionemadmissifuerint,pariter concedimus atque indulgemus.
Insuper omnibus et singulis Christifidelibus Saecularibus et
Regularibus cuiuvis Ordinis et Instituti, etiam specialiter
nominandi, licentiam concedimus, et facultatem, ut sibi ad
hunc effectum eligere possint quemcumque Presbyterum Con-
fessarium tarn Saecularem, quam Regularem ex actu ap-
probatis a locorum Ordinariis (qua facultate uti possint, etiam
Moniales, Novitiae, aliaeque mulieres intra claustra degentes,
dummodo Confessarius approbatus sit pro Monialibus), qui eos
ab excommunicationis, suspensions, aliisque ecclesiasticis
sententiis, et censuris a iure vel ab homine quavis de causa
latis vel inflictis praeter infra exceptas, nee non ab omnibus pec-
catis, excessibus, criminibus et delictis quantumvis gravibus
et enormibus, etiam locorum Ordinariis, sive Nobis, et Sedi
Apostolicae speciali licet forma reservatis, et quorum absolutio
alias quantumvis ampla non intelligeretur concessa, in foro
conscientiae, et hac vice tantum absolvere, et liberare valeant ;
et insuper vota quaecumque etiam iurata, et Sedi Apos-
tolicae reservata (castitatis, religionis, et obligationis, quae a
,383
Document.
tertio acceptata fuerit seu in quibus agatur de praeiudicio
tertii semper exceptis, quatenus ea vota sint perfecta et ab-
soluta nee non poenalibus, quae praeservativa a peccatis
nuncupantur, nisi commu.tatio futura iudicetur eiusmodi, ut
non minus a peccato cbmmittendo refraenet, quam prior
voti materia) in alia pia et salutaria opera dispensando
commutare, iniuncta tamen eis, et eorum cuilibet in supradictis
omnibus poenitentia salutari, aliisque eiusdem Confessarii ar-
bitrio iniungendis.
Concedimus insuper facultatem dispensandi super irregular-
itate ex violatione Censurarum contracta, quatenus ad forum
externum non sit deducta, vel de facili deducenda. Non
intendimus autem per praesentes super alia quavis irregular-
itate sive-ex delicto, sive ex defectu, vel publica, vel occulta,
aut nota, aliaque incapacitate, aut inhabilitate quoquomodo
contracta dispensare, vel aliquam facultatem tribuere super
praemissis dispensandi, seu habilitandi, et in pristinum statum
restituendi, etiam in foro conscientiae, neque etiam derogare
Constitutioni cum appositis declarationibus editae a fel. rec.
Benedicto XIV. Praedecessore Nostro " Sacramentum Poen-
itentiae" quoad inhabilitatem absolvendi complicem, et quoad
obligationem denunciationis, neque easdem praesentes iis, qui
a Nobis, et ab Apostolica Sede, vel aliquo Praelato, seu ludice
Ecclesiastico nominatim excommunicati, suspensi, interdicti,
seu alias in sententias, et censuras incidisse declarati, vel
publice denunciati fuerint, nisi intra tempus praefmitum satis-
fecerint, aut cum partibus concordaverint nullomodb suffragan
posse aut debere. Quod si intra praefinitum terminum iudicio
Confessarii satisfacere non potuerint, absolvi posse concedimus
in foro conscientiae ad effectum dumtaxat assequendi Indul-
gentias lubilaei, iniuncta obligatione satisfaciendi statim ac
poterunt.
Quapropter in virtute sanctae obedientiae tenore praesentium
districte praecipimus, atque mandamus omnibus, et quibus-
cumque Ordinanis locorum ubicumque existentibus, eorumque
Vicariis et Officialibus, vel ipsis deficientibus, illis, qui curam
animarum exercent, ut, cum praesentium Litterarum tran-
sumpta, aut exempla etiam impressa acceperint, ilia, ubi
primum pro temporum ac locorum ratione satius in Domino
censuerint per suas Ecclesias ac Dioeceses, Provincias, Civi-
tates, Oppida, Terras, et loca publicent, vel publicari faciant,
populisque etiam ^Verbi. Dei praedicatione, quoad fieri possit,
rite praeparatis, Ecclesiam, seu Ecclesias visitandas pro prae-
senti lubilaeo designent.
Non obstantibus Constitutionibus, et Ordinationibus Apos-
tohcis, praesertim quibus facultas absolvendi in certis tune
Document. 389
expressis casibus ita Romano Pontifici pro tempore existenti
reservatur, ut nee etiam similes, vel dissimiles Indulgentiarum,
et facultatum huiusmodi concessiones, nisi de illis expressa
mentio, aut specialis derogatio fiat, cuiquam suffragari possint,
nee non regula de non concedendis Indulgentiis ad instar, ac
quorumcumque Ordinum, et Congregationum, sive Instituto-
rum etiam iuramento, confirmatione Apostolica, vel quavis
firmitate alia roboratis, statutis et consuetudinibus, privilegiis
quoque indultis, et Litteris Apostolicis eisdem Ordinibus,
Congregationibus, et Institutis, illorumque personis quomodo-
libet concessis, approbatis, et innovatis, quibus omnibus et
singulis etiamsi de illis, eorumque totis tenoribus, specialis,
specifica, expressa et individua, non autem per clausulas gen-
erales idem importantes, mentio, seu alia quaevis. expressio
habenda, aut alia aliqua exquisita forma ad hoc servanda foret,
illorum tenores praesentibus pro sufficienter expressis, ac for-
mam in iis traditam pro servata habentes, hac vice specialiter,
nominatim, et expresse ad effectum praemissorum, derogamus,
ceterisque contrariis quibuscumque.
Praecipimus autem, a commemorato die primo lunii usque
ad diem, quo'Oecumenica Synodus finem habuerit, ab omni-
bus universi catholici Orbis utriusque Cleri Sacerdotibus
quotidie addi in Missa orationem de Spiritu Sancto, deque
eodem Sancto Spiritu divinum, praeter consuetam Missam
Conventualem, Sacrificium fieri in omnibus huius Urbis Patri-
archalibus, aliisque Basilicis, et Collegialibus Ecclesiis, nee
non in cunctis totius orbis Cathedralibus et Collegiatis Eccle-
siis ab earum Canonicis, atque etiam in singulis cuiusque Re-
ligiosae Familiae Ecclesiis Regularium, qui Conventualem
Missam celebrare tenentur, feria quaque quinta, qua festum
duplex primae et secundae classis non agatur, quin tamen
haec de Spiritu Sancto Missa ullam habeat applications obli-
gationem.
Ut autem praesentes Nostrae, quae ad singula loca deferri
non possunt, ad omnium notitiam facilius deveniant, volumus,
ut praesentium transumptis, vel exemplis etiam impressis
manu alicuius Notarii publici subscriptis, et sigillo personae in
dignitate ecclesiastica constitutae munitis, ubicumque locorum,
et gentium eadem prorsus fides habeatur, quae haberetur ipsis
praesentibus, si forent exhibitae vel ostensae.
Datum Romae apud Sanctum Petrum sub Annulo Piscatoris
die ii Aprilis Anno 1869.
Pontificatus Nostri Anno Vicesimotertio.
N. CARD. PARACCIANI CLARELLI.
390
MONASTICON HIBERNICUM;
OR,
A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT
MONASTERIES OF IRELAND.
[N.B. — The text of the " Monasticon" is taken verbatim from Archdall: the notes
marked with numbers are added by the Editors.]
COUNTY OF ANTRIM.
north of Fairhead Point, on which St. Comgall landed with
an intent to erect a cell, but he was instantly seized by a band
of 30 military men, who, holding his hands, drove him out of
the island.0 We are not informed by whose orders the holy
man was so inhospitably received and so rudely treated ; but
St. Columba, who founded Deny, A.D. 546, succeeded better :
he founded a church here, and placed over it Colman, the
deacon, who was the son of Roi.d
A.D. 590. Lugaid Laither was abbot, and flourished about
this time. He is said by some to have been the founder.6
630. St. Segene, the abbot of Hy, repaired this abbey,
either in this year,f or in 632,^ but in 635, according to the
" Annals of Ulster."h He is esteemed by some to have been
its founder.1
651. This second founder died this year.k
734. Died the bishop St. Flann ; he was son of Kellach.1
738. Died the abbot St. Cumineus Hua Kierain.m
743. Died the blessed Cobthach, abbot of this church."
764. The abbot Murgaile M'Ninned died September the
29th.°
768. Died the abbot St. Aid ; he was son of Corbreus.p
790. A fleet of Danish pirates ravaged this island with fire
"Usher, Prim. Trias Th. d Tr. Th. pp. 400, 450, 509. ^ Usher, ibid. *Tr. Th.
p. 498, 509. «M>Geogh. h Usher, ibid. ijfd. k2>. Th. p. 498. lld. p. 509.
mld. nld. °M'Geog. Tr. Th. p. 509 and Index. ?Tr. Th. p. 509:
(Continuation of Note 44, from page 308.)
us in concluding that St. Columba did not found a monastery in the northern
Rathlin; for Colgan expressly mentions that "St. Columbkille founded a monastery
there, which was constructed or repaired by his disciples." — (Tr. Th. p. 494.)
The " Annals of the F. M.," at A.D. 630, give the entry: " Segene, abbot of
Hy-Columbkille, founded the church of Rechrainn," i.e., adds O'Donovan, at
Rathlin Island, "off the north coast of the county Antrim." — (Annals, p. 251.)
The " Annals of Ulster" place this erection of the church of Rechrainn in A.D.
634, whilst it is marked in the " Annals of Clonmacnoise " at A.D. 632.
To the list of abbots copied in the text from Colgan we have nothing to add.
The entry regarding St. Flann is of special importance. He is expressly called in
the " Annals of the F. M.," " Bishop of Rechra."
The County Antrim. 391
and sword ; the shrines and holy altars perished in the general
destruction.** The " Annals of Ulster" place this melancholy
event in the year 794, which answers to our year 795 .r This
was the first descent of those barbarians upon our coasts.45
794. Died the blessed Feradach, son of Segineus, and abbot
of this place.8
848. Died the blessed Tuathal, son of Feradach, abbot of
Rachlin and also of Darmagh.*
973. In this year the Danes, those cruel despoilers of this
kingdom, crowned with martyrdom St. Feradach, the holy
abbot of this church.u
King John afterwards granted this island to Alan of
Galway.w
1558. The Lord Deputy, the Earl of Sussex, attacked the
Scots, who had got possession of this island, and drove them
out with a great slaughter.* ^
iTr. Th.p, 509. * Usher, Supr. *Tr. Th. p. 509. *Id. *Id. ^ War. Works,
•v. 2. p. 201. *War. Annal.
45 The " Annals of Ulster," at A.D. 794, thus mention this first inroad of the
Danes into Ireland: " The burning of Rechru by Gentiles, and its shrines were
broken and plundered." The Welsh chronicle known by the name " Chronicle of
the Chieftains," has a corresponding record under the year 790: " Ten years, with
fourscore and seven hundred, was the age of Christianity when the pagans first
went to Ireland" (Monum. Hist. Brit., p. 843); three MSS. of this old chronicle
add the sentence *' and destroyed Rechrenn,*1 The " Gwentian Chronicle of
Caradoc" of Llancarcan registers the same event at A.D. 795: " The black pagans
first came to the island of Britain from Denmark and made great ravages in
England: afterwards they entered Glamorgan and there killed and burnt much;
but at last the Cymry conquered them, driving them into the sea and killing very
many of them; from thence they went to Ireland and devastated Rechreyn and
other places." — (Todd, Wars of the Danes, p. xxxiii.) The connection of Rech-
reyn in this text with the defeat of the Danes in Wales proves that it refers to the
island off the Antrim coast.
46 It was in the year 1213 that the island of Rathlin was granted by King John
to Alanus de Galveia. This grant was confirmed in 1215 and 1220.— (Hardy's
Rot. Tur. Londinen.) In 1279 the island was held by John Byset, and its value
was rated at ^4 8s. $d. It afforded a safe retreat to Robert Bruce, when in 1306
the Scottish troops had to yield before the English army; and it was thence he set
sail with his chosen leaders when he had matured his plans to assert the inde-
pendence of Scotland. The Bysets having forfeited their lands by aiding the
Scots, Rathlin was granted to John de Athy by Edward the Second in 1319. The
most important entry regarding this island in the " Annals of the F. M." is the
following, at A.D. 1551: " A hosting was made by the Lord Justice into Ulster in
the beginning of Autumn, and he sent the crews of four ships to the island of
Reachrainn to seek for plunder. James and Colla Mselduv, the sons of MacDon-
nell of Scotland, were upon the island to protect the district. A battle was fought
between them in which the English were defeated, so that not one of them escaped
to relate their story except their leader, a lieutenant, whom these Scots took
prisoner and kept in custody until they obtained in exchange for him their own
brother, Sorley Boy, who had been imprisoned in Dublin by the English for the
space of a year before, and another great ransom along with him." Sydney, in
the "Memoir of his Government in Ireland," written in 1583, confirms the truth
of this narrative: " The second journey (he writes) that the Earl of Essex made
into those quarters of Ulster, he sent me and others into the island of Raghlyns,
392 A ncient Monasteries of Ireland.
Raghlin is a rectory in the diocess of Connor/
Rathaige? in Dalaradia. St. Foilan, or Fullen, was abbot
or bishop here.z
It is now unknown.
Ratheaspuicinnic ^ St. Patrick founded a church here, and
* Visitation Book. zAct. SS.p. 104.
where before, in the time of Sir James Croft's deputation, Sir Ralf Bagenal,
Captain Cuffe, and others sent by him, landed, little to their advantage, for there
were they hurt and taken, and the most of their men that landed either killed or
taken."— (Ulster Journ. of Arch., 1860, vol. 8, p. 193.)
47 The " Martyrology of Donegal," on 3oth of September, gives us the name of
" St. Faelan, of Rath-Aidhne in Dalaradia." This has been conjectured to be the
present Killaney, in the diocese of Down, barony of Upper Castlereagh, county
Down. Reeves (Antiq. of Down, Connor, and Dromore, p. 217) writes it was
"called in the Inquisitions, Killenny, alias Anaghalone or Anaghdoloun. The
ancient graveyard, enclosed by a ring-fence, but without any traces of a building
therein, lies in the southern extremity of the parish, a little S.E. of Lough Henney,
called locally, Loughinney (Ord. Survey, SS. 15, 22). The rectory, extending
over seven townlands, was, at the dissolution, appropriate to the abbey of Moville."
The seven townlands are now reduced to four, and the rectory is impropriate in the
Marquis of Downshire.
48 Colgan tells us that St. Vindic, or Winnie, was "Bishop of 'Rath-easpuic-Innic,'
in the barony of Antrim, and in the valley of Hy-Dercachen. 'L, He adds that the
saint's memory was also honoured " at- Tegnetha, in the diocese of Armagh, on
the 29th of Angust." — (Tr. Th., p. 183.) The " Martyrology of Donegal" also
marks his feast on that day: "St. Vinnic of Trighnetha ; " and Dr. Donovan
writes that Tuighnetha is the modern Tynan, in the county Armagh. As regards
the site of the valley of Hy-Dercachen, O'Donovan was of opinion that it was a
tract in the north of Down, or on the confines of Down and Antrim, The " Book
of Rights" mentions Hy-Dearca-Chein as a sub-territory of Uladh:
" Entitled is the King of Ui-Dearca Chein
To five horses bright as the sun,
Six war-swords, six drinking horns,
And six bondmen of great merriment."
(Book of Rights, p. 161.) The "Four Masters," at the year 1199, relate that
Rodubh Mac Rcedig, chief of Kinel ^Engus, was slain by the English while plun-
dering Ua-n-Earca- Chein. Again, at 1391, Mac Giolla Muire, who was other-
wise called Cu-Uladh O'Muma, is presented to us as chief of " Ui-Earca Chein."
Rynaer's " Fcedera" has a charter of 3 Edward the First, A.D. 1275, which preserves
the same name, " Mac Gilmorani dux de Anderken." (vol. I, p. 520). O'Donovan
concludes from various references to the family of Mac Giolla "Mac Muire (now
known as M'Gillmurry, Gilmore, but principally Murray), that they originally
possessed the barony of Lecale, a part of Kinnelarty, and the barony of Upper (cor-
rectly Lower) Castlereagh. Dr. M'Dermott, in his notes to Connellan's Transla-
tion of the "Four Masters," very strangely fixed this territory as the barony of
Iverk, county Kilkenny, but there can be no doubt, as Dr. Reeves suggested
(Ant. p. 339), it was in the north of the county Down. It lay in the eastern por-
tion of the present barony of Lower Castlereagh, south of Comber, and abbuting
on Strangford L6ugh, a 'few miles distant from the ancient Nendrum.— It was
almost identical with the sub-territory of South Claneboy, which was variously
spelt Slut Henderkees, and Slut Cenderkeys, probably corruptions of the more
ancient name, and the Anglicised form, Anderktn.
Rath easpuic innic is probably the present Castle espie, called in the see leases,
Bally-casland especk, in the parish of Tullynakill. It is still bishop land, as is the
entire parish, forming the manor of Island Maghie (the ancient Nendruni], other-
wise Ballindrep. Colgan's error, in assigning it to the barony of Antrim, very
The County Antrim. 393
appointed St. Vinnoc bishop of it ; it is in the territory of
Hua-derchain, a valley in the barony of Antrim ; there are
four churches in this valley, viz., Rathmor (which probably
is Rath-easpuic-innic), Rathcabain, Ratheochuill, and .a
Now unknown.
Rathmoanef® near Ballycastle, in the barony of Carye. St.
Patrick founded Rathmodhain, and placed St. Ereclasius
therein ; it is now, according to Colgan, a parish church in the
Reuts and diocess of Connor.b
Ratkmuighe? 5° on the sea-shore, eight miles from Dunliffsia,
as Colgan observes, which may probably be Dunluce. It was
formerly a principal town of the Dalriedans, and an episcopal
seat and monastery, but is now reduced to a small village
with a church.d
The mother of St. Olcan, or Bolcan, died about the year
440. After her interment a noise was heard in the grave,
which being immediately opened, the child was providentially
taken out alive. St. Patrick received this infant of birth so
extraordinary, baptized and educated him in this town ; he
was afterwards sent to France to finish his studies ; and on
his return he became the first abbot and bishop of a monastery
built in Rathmuighe.6
St. Brugachius was appointed by St. Patrick to succeed St.
Olcan ; he was surnamed the Hospitable, and his feast is
held on the first of November/
* Tr. Th. p. 183. * Act SS. p. 455. c Is also called Rathmuighe-haonuigh, and
Arthur-mtiighe, or Arther-muighe-haonuigh. d Act SS. p. 375, 377. e Id.
*Id. Tr. TIi. p. 183.
likely rose from its being, when he wrote, part of this manor, anciently written
n'Aendruim. The ruins of the Castle, about a perch south east of a very large
rath, lie near the shore, and the celebrated lime quarries.
The "Martyrology of Donegal" gives, at i6th February, another bishop as
seated here: "Aedh Glas, bishop of Rath-na-n-Epscop. " In O'Cleary's Tabular
Index this bishop is -called "Aenghus."
49 Now the parish otRamoan. In the "Tripartite Life," the name is written Rath-
mudain, a corruption, as Colgan tells us, of " Rath-Modhain," which was given to
it from Muadain, whose son, Enan, was appointed by our apostle to preside over
the neighbouring church of Drtdm-indich, as we have already seen, when speaking
of this church. St. Erceleac was left by St. Patrick in chai'ge of the church of
Ramoan, and his feast is marked in the " Martyrology of Donegal,'' on the 3rd of
March. Colgan gives a sketch of this saint's life, and adds, that his church was
situated "in regione Dalriadiae, Cathrugia (i.e., Cary) dicta, et in Decanatu de
Tuashceart" (Acta SS. p. 455). The river Shesk, which joins the Cary river at
Bonamargy, flows from south to north, and divides this parish from Culfeightrin. —
See Reeves' " EC. Antiq. " p. 284.
50 See the remarks already made at Airthir-muige, i.e., Armoy. This place is quite
distinct from Ratheanich, in county Donegal, which we will meet hereafter, and to
which SS. Brugach, Adamnan, and Kieran belonged. The repeated destruction of
Armoy was foretold by St. Patrick, as we have seen. In addition to the instances
referred to by Archdall, we may mention that it was also plundered by Cucuaran,
who died in the year 706. — " Vita Tripart." p. 147.
394 Ancient Monasteries of Ireland,
A.D. 612. This abbey was destroyed by
725. St. Adamnan, the bishop and abbot, died this year.h
779. The abbot, St. Kieran, died on the 8th of October.1
831. This abbey was plundered and destroyed.k
960. It met with the same dreadful treatment.1
Rathmurbuilg ;5' St. Domangart, bishop of this church,
which is in Dalaradia, died in the year 506 j it is now called
Machaire-ratha.m Probably this is Magherehill, three miles
south-west of Ballymenagh.
Ratlisithe^ was built by St. Patrick ; it is now, says Father
Colgan, a parish church in the diocess of Connor."
Now unknown.
*Act. SS. p. 378. »-/</. /. 377- lld. k/^- >• 378. l/d. ™Act. SS. p. 744-
*Id.p. 183.
51 This town is the present Maghera, in the county Down, and lies about nine
miles S.-W. of Downpatrick. We shall return to it hereafter. — Reeves' " EC.
Antiq." p. 27.
62 A charter of James the First annexes the parish of Rathsith to the prebend of
Carncastle. Now that parish in other documents, as in the taxation of Down and
Connor, is called the parish of Rassci. Thus we are enabled to identify it with the
modern Eashee, the churchyard of which is still much used by the surrounding dis-
tricts. It is situated in the county and barony of Antrim. In the "Annals of the F. M,"
at 617, is marked the demise of "Eogan, Bishop of Rath-Sithe." Tighernach
registers the same event in 618 : " Eogan, Bishop of Rathsitha rested." So also in
the "Annals of Ulster," at A.D. 617, and in the "Annals of Innisfail," at
A.D. 6ll.
A local antiquarian gives, in the "Ulster Journal," the following interesting
particulars connected with this place: — "A district in the county of Antrim,
with which I have been familiar from my youth, appears to me to be worthy of exa-
mination in an archaeological point of view. It lies about twelve miles from Belfast,
and comprises an area of about twenty square miles. It is bounded by the Glen-
wherry river and the Six-Mile-Water on two of its sides ; on a third by a line drawn
from Battery-bridge over Big-collin mountain ; and on the fourth by a line about four
miles distant, passing over Ballyboley hill and meeting both rivers near their source.
It includes a great part of the united parishes of Ballycorr and Rahee, now called
the parish of Ballyeaston, with part of that of Donegore. This district is remarkable
for the number of artificial earthen mounds which are scattered over it, usually called
by the country people forths or moats. At an early period these must have been
more numerous than at present, as it is known that many of them have been levelled
form time to time ; but there still exists one to every square mile. It is probable
that some of them may be sepulchral. Another class of ancient constructions found
in the district to a considerable extent is the subterraneous chambers or artificial
caves ; of these I have myself noted the localities of about a dozen, some of which
in early youth I have entered. Several of them were spacious and lofty, but nearly
all more or less filled up with earth. They are built of rude stone-work, and a
number of them have' been destroyed for sake of the building-stones they supplied
to the 'occupiers of the surrounding land ; others have been broken into in the
search for 'crocks of gold,' which a very general tradition declares may be found in
them. I was early taught to believe that they were the work of an ancient people
called Pegks, of whom, however, nothing further is known. Another class of
antiquities met with in this district bears the popular name of Giants' Graves ; of
these I know three or four examples. The late Mr. M'Skimmin, author of the
"History of Carrickfergus, " was of opinion that these were Druids' Altars. I
would also draw attention to the traces, now almost obliterated, of very ancient
religious edifices and bury ing-grounds. Four of these are situated respectively at
The County Armagh. 395
Tulacfe* was also founded by the same saint, who appointed
St. Nehemias to be bishop of it. Colgan says it is now called
Tulach-ruisc, and that it is a parish church in the deanery of
Dalmun and diocess of Connor.0
COUNTY OF ARMAGH.1
A rmaghp the capital of the county, and a market-town and
borough, sending burgesses to parliament.
°Trtas Th. /. 183. vlt was known in ancient times by the several names of Druim
saileck, Ardsailech, Altitudo sailech^ Eamhuin maeha, and also Allimachia. Usher,
Trias Th. p. 289.
Battycorr, Rashee, Kilbride, and Doiigh. In these places the vestiges of foundations
were discernible in my early days ; and I know that at present several old walls are
being removed to obtain ground for burying the dead. Tradition tells of a fifth, at
least a burying-place, but probably also the site of a religious structure, near the
Battery Bridge which crosses the Glenwherry river. An old inhabitant of Killylane
told me the Irish name of a place near this bridge, which in English signifies, the
old woman' 's graveyard. Local tradition records that in old times there was here
an abbey and a fair, and that the owner of the surrounding lands, as well as of some
place in Carnmoney, was a Dane." — "Ulster Journal of Archaeology," vol.
3rd, p. 79.
53 There is a parish of Tullyrusk adjoining the parish of Belfast. This, however,
cannot be the Church of Tulach founded by St. Patrick, and presided over by St.
Nehemias. The " Tripartite Life" expressly places it in the same district as Ra-
moan, of which we have already spoken (Tr. Th. p. 146). Elsewhere, the same
authority informs us that it was also called Kill-chonadhain {Ibid. 147), of which
probably the modern name, St. Cunning, is a corruption. A townland in the
parish of Carncastle still retains this name, and a charter of James the First attaches
the chapelry of St. Cunning, " Capellam Sancti Conie" to the prebend of Rash-
arkan. — Reeves' " EC. Antiq." p. 53.
1( i )Two different derivations have been assigned to this name, one being founded on
peculiarities of local formation, the other on historical statements. The former is
supported by the authority of Usher (Works, vol. vi.,p. 414), who derived Ardmacha
from Ard " high," and Mach "a plain." Dr. O'Donovan, however, says of this
etymology that, "no Irish scholar ever gave that interpretation." The historical
derivation, which is very ancient, leaves room for choice, since, while furnishing
three different sources whence the name might have originated, it abstains from
declaring in favour of any one oi the three. Rev. Dr. Reeves (to whose "Lecture
on the Ancient Churches of Armagh" we gratefully acknowledge our obligations)
supplies from the Dinnsenchtis in the "Book of Lecan," a triple answer to the
question, " Ard Macha, whence named ?" 1st. From Macha, wife of Nemidh, son
of Adhnoman, who received it as a gift from her husband, and who died and was
buried there, and gave it her name. 2nd. From Macha, daughter of Aedh
Ruadh, by whom Emain Macha (the Navanfort] was built, and who was buried
here. 3rd. From Macha, the wife of Cronn, who lived about the Christian era,
who also was buried here. The height of Macha recalls the history of one of those
three heroines ; but it cannot be determined which of the three has thus been
honoured.
Armagh is translated by Altitudo-Mach<z, as in the "Book of Armagh," some-
times by Alto- Macha, and sometimes simply Macha, or Machi. Out of the high
f round known by this name rose an eminence called Druim Sailech, the "Ridge of
allow," rendered Dorsum Salicis in the "Book of Armagh." In the note (p)
Archdall gives Eamhuin-Macha as one of the names of Armagh ; but, in reality,
this was the name of the entrenchment in the parish of Eglish, now known as the
Navan fort. This was for six hundred years the regal abode of the Ulster sovereigns,
396 A ncient Monasteries of Ireland.
Priory of Regular Canons. A.D. 445. St. Patrick, the
great apostle of this kingdom, founded an abbey here in this
whose line ended in Fergus Focha, who fell at Achalethderg, in A.I>. 332. In that
Primiim periciilu ... _ ...
1145 a limekiln, which was sixty feet every way, was erected opposite Eamham
Macha, by Gillamacliag, successor of Patrick, and "by Patrick's clergy in general.
Under 1387 the "Four Masters" have these two entries : " A house was built at
Eamhain Macha by Niall O'Neill, King of Ulster, for the entertainment of the learned
"A house was erected at Eamhain Macha, by Niall O'Neill, for there was not
any house within it for "a long time till then." Dr. Reeves gives (p. 38, 39) the
text of two documents from " Primate Sweteman's Register" on matters connected
with Navan.
2. The " Annals of Ulster" refer the foundation of Armagh to A.D. 444 : "A.D.
444 Ardmacha fundata est. Ab urbe condita usque ad hunc urbem fundatum
MCXCIY."
The "Annals of the F. M." refer it to the year 457, at which they say :— " Ard-
Macha was founded by Saint Patrick, it having been granted to him by Daire, son
of Finnchadh, son of Eoghan, son of Niallan. Twelve men were appointed by
him for building the town. He ordered them, in the first place, to erect an arch-
bishop's city there, and a church for monks, for nuns, and for the other orders" in
general, for he perceived that it would be the head and chief of the churches of
Ireland in general."
3. The following most interesting extract from the "Book of Armagh" contains
the history of the earliest religious foundations at Armagh. It will be seen from it
that the so-called abbey was not the first foundation made by St. Patrick, that
honour belonging clearly to the church of the Ferta : —
"There lived in the territory of the Easterns a man both rich and honourable,
whose name was Daire, and Patrick asked of him to grant a place for the exercise
of his religion, and the rich man said to the saint, what place dost thou desire ?
I pray of thee [said Patrick] to bestow upon me that eminence which is called the
Sallow Ridge, and there I will build me a place. Notwithstanding, he would not
grant to the saint that high ground, but he gave him another portion in a lower
situation, where is now the Fertse Martyrum, beside Arddmacha; and there Patrick
abode with his disciples. Some time after there came a horseman of Daire, leading
his fine horse to feed upon the grassy ground of the Christians, and Patrick was
offended at the intrusion of the horse on his ground, and said, Daire had done
foolishly in sending a senseless animal to trespass on the little spot which he
granted to God. But the horseman, as one that is deaf, gave no ear; and, as a dumb
man that openeth not his mouth, gave no reply; but letting loose the horse there, went
his way for the night. But when, early on the following morning, he came to look
after the horse, he found him already dead, and returning home in sorrow, he said
to his master, behold that Christian hath killed thy horse, because he was dis-
pleased at the trespass upon his ground. And Daire said, then he likewise shall
die; therefore go ye and kill him instantly. But scarcely was the word uttered,
while they were yet going out when a death-stroke fell upon Daire. Then said
his wife, it is because of the Christian that this hath come to pass. Let some one
go quickly, and let the saint's blessing be brought to us, and thou shalt recover;
they also who went forth to slay him are countermanded and recalled. Accord-
ingly, two men went to the Christian, and without stating what had happened
[merely] said Daire is sick; we pray thee let something of thine be carried to him,
if, peradventure, he may be healed. But St. Patrick, knowing what had been done,
said, yes, verily; and he blessed some water, and gave it to them, saying, go ye,
sprinkle your horse with this water, and then take it with you. And they did so,
and the horse came to life again, and they carried, the water with them, and DaLre
was healed when he was sprinkled with the consecrated water.
(To be continued).
[NEW SERIES.\
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
JUNE, 1869.
NOTES DURING A JOURNEY IN FRANCE.
TO THE EDITORS OF "THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD."
GENTLEMEN, — Having published in your March number
some of the admirable letters addressed by the Bishops of
France to His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin
with respect to our Catholic University, you may, perhaps,
deem the following notes also likely to be interesting to your
readers. These notes were made during a short visit to
the Continent last autumn, and will serve to show the lively
interest taken in our Education Question by some of the most
distinguished prelates of that great Catholic Empire, as well
as by one illustrious bishop in the adjoining republic of
Switzerland, and by the Archbishop of Mechlin. The views
of these men, who rank among the deepest thinkers of our
age, possess a peculiar value at this moment, when our country
is about to enter upon a new era ; an era, it is to be hoped, of
greater material prosperity and of more universal development
than for the past ; an era, consequently, in which education of
the highest order will be more necessary than ever, but in
which it will also be more than ever necessary that " the aroma
of the sciences" Religion, should be present to hinder knowledge
from corrupting the minds and hearts of the rising generations.
The names of the eloquent Mgr. Mermillod of Geneva, of
the great Bishop of Orleans, Mgr. Dupanloup, of Cardinal
Donnet, of Mgr. Pie, Bishop of Poitiers, and of others, which
VOL, v. 27
398 . . Notes during a Journey in France.
will be found in the following memoranda, would at any time
be sufficient to awaken the attention of Irish Ecclesiastics, and
will, I am sure, do so in a special manner at the present
moment. — I have the honor to be, Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
EARTH. WOODLOCK.
Catholic University, Dublin,
3O//2 April, 1869.
Rouen, Friday, I4th August, 1868.
Saw Cardinal de Bonnechose, Archbishop of Rouen, at the
Archiepiscopal Palace, which is a magnificent building near
the Cathedral.
His Eminence entered most warmly into conversation with
us respecting the University. He said : The bishops of
France have long desired a University, where youth would
be safe from anti-Christian teaching. Although several of the
professors in the University of France are excellent men, still
many are infidels and materialists, and there is no security for
faith and morals. However, the question is, His Eminence
added : When and how will be the best occasion for promoting
the interests of the Catholic University of Ireland, and of
Christian Education in France ? We told His Eminence we
had a letter for the Bishop of Orleans. The Cardinal pro-
mised to confer with him as to the best mode of promoting
our cause — he expected to have an opportunity of doing so in
the autumn.
He would also consider the best time and manner of having
a collection in Rouen for our University.
Before taking our leave, His Eminence desired us to remind
Cardinal Cullen that he (Cardinal de Bonnechose) had pro-
mised some relics of St. Laurence O'Toole, Archbishop of
Dublin, whose sacred body reposes at Eu, in the diocese of
Rouen, on condition that His Eminence of Dublin would him-
self come for them.
Orleans, Tuesday, i"8th August.
Saw Mgr. Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans, at his country
house, which adjoins the College, or Petit S^minaire, at La
Chapelle, a village about two miles from Orleans, on the
banks of the Loire.
His lordship received us most kindly and even warmly,
and kept us for dinner, which was served at 12 o'clock. At
Notes during a Journey in France. 399
the beginning of the repast the bishop's chaplain read a
chapter of the New Testament, and at the end a paragraph of
the Imitation of Christ. After dinner we withdrew into the
ante-chamber, and the bishop left us. I went to walk about
the grounds with M. Lagrange, one of the Vicars-General,
and another priest, who live with the bishop. The former told
me that he noted the materialistic passages quoted by the
bishop in his recent pamphlet, " Les Alarmes de 1'Episcopat."
The other is writing, under the bishop's supervision, a full
account of all the churches, towns, and villages in the diocese
of Orleans.
After the bishop had dismissed his other visitors, he and we
walked together in the grounds for a considerable time.
He entered most warmly into our plans regarding the
higher education of Catholics in Ireland, and said he would
have, in the diocese of Orleans, a general collection for our
University, and would publish a letter on the subject. For
this latter purpose, I gave him notes which I had by me.
Should he require anything more, he said he would write to
me for it.
He explained to us at considerable length the difficulties of
the position of Catholics in France. Higher education is in a
most deplorable state, and the greatest efforts are made to
fill the minds of youth with materialistic and atheistical prin-
ciples, and to sap the foundations of religion and morality.
The bishops cannot ask directly for a Catholic University, for to
do so would be to say, equivalently, that France is not Catholic,
since there is a University of France; such an insinuation
would not be tolerated. Moreover, several of the Professors in
the University are most religious and excellent men. What
is wanted is Educational Freedom, by which the bishops
would be free to establish courses of law, of medicine, &c.,
under truly Christian Professors, so that parents wishing to
send their sons to the legal or medical professions, might not
be forced, as at present, to expose them to the imminent risk
of being made by their teachers materialists of atheists. The
principle of liberty in teaching is recognised in primary and
secondary education ; for instance, the bishop has in his own
College, or Petit Seniinaire,Q{ La Chapelle, where we then were,
three hundred young men, some of them of the highest families
in France, who are there prepared for the examinations of the
Baccalaureate in Arts and in Science, which they can get by pass-
ing the required examination before the University examiners.
Of late he has even established a course of law and other higher
studies, which they can continue for two years, after the Bac-
calaureate. However, it does not appear that the. pupils are
4oo Notes during a Journey in France.
admitted to degrees in law, which, in France, are necessary
in certain cases. Certainly there is no mode of getting the
decree, or even licence, in Medicine, except through the
University, and of this it is that the bishops so justly
complain.
Although -the bishops of France acquiesce in this system of
getting degrees in Letters and in Science, by examination
before a mixed "jury d'examen" still, it is only for want of
better that they accept it. Mgr. Dupanloup said, that it
would be an injustice for our Government to force such a
system upon us ; but that we might accept it, if we got no
better. Here, in France, it is the Minister of Public Instruc-
tion who fixes the programmes for tjie examinations ; but
neither in those programmes, nor in the examinations them-
selves, do they dare to show any anti-Christian spirit.
Moreover, it is not from the examinations, but from the teach-
ing and bearing of the professors, that danger to youth is to
be feared. However, from my inquiries, both from the
bishop himself and from his Vicar-General, who had been
Professor of Logic and Metaphysics, I found that the system
is by no means satisfactory. For instance, the latter told me
that his pupils in philosophy used to complain if he took them
one step beyond what was fixed in the examination pro-
gramme ; in fact, they would not be drawn by him beyond
that programme, and, of course, it was most jejune. This
seems to me to account in a great measure for the falling-off
of philosophical studies in France, of which I have heard
several complaints. But the present^ system, in which the
choice of books, of teachers, and of methods of teaching, is
left to the various institutions, is a great improvement on the
old system, under which — while a degree was necessary, as at
present, for almost all who wished to enter the public service —
no one could obtain any degree, even in Letters or Science,
without submitting to the teaching of the University. More-
over, the new system, by the emulation it has excited, has
improved even' the Government Colleges.
The bishops, then, acquiesce in the present system of
secondary education, and endeavour to get the principle of
educational liberty upon which it is founded, extended to
higher professional education.
The Bishop of Orleans has another college, or sJminaire,
like La Chapelle, in another part of his diocese.
His lordship fully approved of the principles regarding
education for which, I told him, we are contending in Ireland,
and which we are determined to uphold, viz. : 1st. That the
teaching of Catholics be left altogether in the hands of Catho-
Notes during a Journey in France. 401
lies ; 2ndly. That it be subject to the supreme control of the
bishops in all things appertaining to faith and morals ; 3rdly.
That Catholics be placed on a footing of perfect equality with
Protestants as to all educational advantages.
After conversing together for a considerable time, he said
he would go and write letters of introduction for me to some of the
prelates of the greatest influence, with whom he is on terms of
special intimacy. Accordingly he left us, and after some
time returned, and handed us letters of introduction to six of
the leading prelates of France.
Before concluding our conversation, I mentioned that the
O'Curry " Glossaries," containing 30,000 Celtic words, are in
the possession of our University, and I said, that as there is a
great movement now in France in favour of Celtic studies,
perhaps through his lordship's influence, exerted in the " French
Academy," the Government of the Emperor might be induced
to publish this valuable work. He at once saw the honour
such a publication would confer upon the Catholic University,
and through it upon religion ; and said, that if one of our
Professors would come to France, when he (Mgr. Dupanloup)
will be in Paris, he would introduce him to the members of
the Academy learned in these matters, and thought the thing
might be done, and would redound much to the honour of the
Catholic Church in Ireland.
We also entered into the question of the Established Church
in Ireland for a short time. His lordship particularly asked,
how it was that our bishops had refused to accept any part of
the ecclesiastical endowments for the Catholic Church ? He
seemed perfectly satisfied with the reasons which I told him
had, I believed, actuated our bishops, viz. : that no such
division or surrender to the Catholic Church was ever seriously
proposed, nor could it be carried in the House of Commons ;
that such a disposition on the part of our bishops to accept
the ecclesiastical property would have opposed the greatest
obstacle possible to the settlement of the question and the
destruction of the Establishment in Ireland ; for that the
Liberals in England are Mr. Gladstone's main support, and
they are even more opposed to the Catholic Church than to
the Protestant, so that sooner than establish the Catholic
religion in Ireland, they would say, let the Protestant
Establishment remain ; that such an endowment could not be
effected without the sacrifice of our liberty, at least to some
extent ; finally, that an acceptance by our bishops of a part
of the ecclesiastical property would be a condonatio of the
robbery originally committed, and a donatio to heresy of a
part of the property of the Church,
402 Notes during a Journey in France.
Brittany.
-After leaving Orleans, we had the pleasure of seeing some of
the illustrious bishops of Brittany. These prelates entertain a
special affection for Ireland. One of them in particular seemed
to take particular pleasure in identifying " ses braves Bretons"
with our old Celtic race. He pressed us to remain for a few
days in his episcopal city, that he might offer us hospitality
and introduce us to some of the leading members of his
clergy, and that we might propose a toast to Cardinal
Cullen and to the success of our efforts in Ireland for the
maintenance of religion and the advancement of Catholic
education. He gave us many graphic sketches of the similarity
of character between the two peoples.
One of these prelates entered considerably into detail as to
the difficulties by which the bishops of France are surrounded
respecting education, and, indeed, in all things regarding re-
ligion. " For my part," he said, " I do not fear a revolution.
We have nothing to lose. Things cannot be worse than they
are. Your liberty in Ireland is most precious. The Concordat
will, I fear, be the destruction of religion in France."
One of the prelates whom we had the pleasure of seeing
about this time spoke in no measured terms of the actual
Minister of Public Instruction in France, who, he said, being
afraid to avow himself an open enemy, makes use of the
most insidious, and at the same time most dangerous, means
to injure, or rather destroy, religion. At the same time, he is a
man whose education is far from fitting him for the post he
occupies, and whose appointment was a kind of insult to the
University, and was felt as such by its learned men. How-
ever, "the Bishop of Orleans 'Vaje'te a la boite aux charbons' —
and unmasked all his schemes, through which he seeks to sub-
vert religion by introducing and promoting corrupt systems
of education."
One of the prelates whom we saw while in the west of
France told us, that at the moment of our visit he was making
the annual retreat, with several hundred of his clergy ; that they
were thoroughly sound on the education question, and that
the Government knew it; but, as the elections are now approach-
ing, and the moment was not opportune for going against the
clerical element, they (the Government) had not dared to
refuse him the required legal authorization for an association
which, in conjunction with the leading laymen and ecclesiastics
of his neighbourhood, he had just formed for the purpose
of obtaining " Educational Freedom :" "la liberte d"1 enseigne-
mentr
On leaving Brittany we visited Tours, and thence proceeded
on our journey southward, till we reached Poitiers.
Notes' during a Journey in France. 403
Poitiers, 23rd August.
Mgr. Pie, the eloquent Bishop of Poitiers, received us with
the same kindness we had experienced from the other prelates.
Happening to meet one of the Canons of the Cathedral, who,
as we subsequently discovered, is also the senior Vicar-General,
he conducted us to the bishop's residence, which is at present
an old convent of Benedictine nuns, from which the Religious
were expelled at the time of the first Revolution, and which
was called Sainte Croix. The Government is about to restore
to the bishop the old episcopal palace, which had been con-
verted into the Prefecture.
His lordship kept us for dinner, and during the evening
entered fully into the questions of the Established Church and
of Education. in Ireland. He said he would do everything in
his power to promote the interests of the Catholic University
of Ireland, and that for this purpose he would put himself into
communication with the Cardinal Archbishop of Bordeaux,
whom, we told him, we were going to visit. He seems a
prelate of great information and of considerable cleverness.
He pressed us to go with him on the following day to the
convent — I think, of Benedictines — where are the remains of
the monastery in which St. Martin of Tours spent three years
under the teaching and guidance of the great St. Hilary
of Poitiers; but we were not able to accept his invitation,
having made our arrangements to continue on the following
day our journey to Bordeaux.
Bordeaux, 25th August.
From Poitiers we proceeded to Bordeaux. Cardinal Donnet,
the archbishop of that great city, received us most kindly, and
having spoken to us for a few minutes, asked us to accompany
himtoadistribution of prizes to the boys of the municipal schools,
taught by the "Brothers of the Christian Schools" and then to
return and dine with him, when we could talk at leisure over
the Education question and other matters interesting religion
in Ireland.
The distribution of prizes was a very imposing ceremony.
Besides the Cardinal, the Maire of the city — who is a Protes-
tant, but a very liberal man, as I was told, and as might be
judged from his discourse to the boys — the Government in-
spector of schools, the Vice- President of the Lycee, &c., were
present. The room, which was a very large one, capable (I should
think) of holding 4,000 or 5,000 persons, was quite full. The
boys were very finerlooking lads, dressed alike in a quasi-
military uniform, red and white. There were some hundreds
404 Notes during a Journey in France.
of them, although they were only the boys who had won
premiums; but they were selected from all the municipal
schools conducted by the Christian Brothers in Bordeaux.
They formed an excellent band and choir of singers, and
acquitted themselves admirably in their music, declamation, a
geographical dialogue, and, most of all, in their general bearing.
They also exhibited admirable specimens of writing and
drawing. The Cardinal told us, that in many cities and towns
of France the municipalities were taking the schools from the
Christian Brothers ; but that this had not been and could not
be attempted in Bordeaux ; and that their Protestant Maire
had been mainly instrumental in securing this advantage for
their city.
On our return from the distribution of prizes His Eminence
wrote for us, with his own hand, a list of the objects of public
or religious interest to be visited in Bordeaux.
In the evening, before dismissing us, His Eminence said : —
" What then, finally, is it you want me to do for you ?" We
said we wished to have the Catholic public opinion of his
people evoked in favour of the Catholic University of Ireland.
"Well," said he, "we have many claims upon us just now ; we
are completing our Cathedral (His Eminence had given us
copies of a pastoral letter he had lately published, ordering a
collection for this object) ; our Seminaries must be maintained,
for the Government allowance and the parents' contributions
are quite insufficient. Still, before all things, I am a Catholic ;
I do not believe that one good work ever injures another. If
you get in Bordeaux four, or five, or ten thousand francs for
your Catholic work, those who contributed will -receive a bless-
ing, and I shall not get less for my works of charity.
" And now, as to the best way of carrying out your object,
Father Roux, S.J., Rector of the Jesuits' College of Tivoli,
near the city, has considerable reputation as a preacher. I
shall be happy to allow him to preach in my Cathedral, for
the Catholic University, in Advent next — that time would be
the best for your purpose."
Besides the little memorandum above-mentioned, His Emi-
nence gave me five handsome volumes of his pastoral letters,
sermons, and discourses on various occasions. *
Moulins, 29th August.
t The Very Rev. Pere Martin, of the Society of Mary,
Superior of the " Grand Seminaire" conducted us, on our
arrival at Moulins, to the bishop, Mgr Dreux-Breze".
The reception given to us by his lordship was most' kind.
Notes diiring a Journey in France. 405
Having inquired very warmly for Cardinal Cullen, he entered
into conversation with us respecting our religious and educa-
tional questions in Ireland. As to the education question in
France, his lordship seems to have special views, which
possess peculiar interest for us. As far as I could understand,
he thinks that the system adopted in 1850 ought not to have
been accepted, and that by refusing to accept it, terms more
favorable to religion would have been obtained ; whereas, by
accepting it, a system was introduced, similar, in his opinion,
to the one condemned in Ireland by the Holy See and our
Irish Bishops, viz., a mixed bureau of administration, with
mixed colleges. I believe the real advantage of the law of
1850 was, that it was a step in the right direction, since it
permits a certain kind of modified liberty, viz., that youths
who have made their studies in "Petits S/minaires" or other
Catholic colleges, may present themselves for examinations
for degrees, and gain those distinctions, which previously
could be obtained only by the students of the "Lyc/es" and
other Government institutions. The Bishop of Moulins, as
far as I could understand him, seemed to be of opinion that
the principle, condemned at that time by the Holy See and the
Bishops of Ireland, was the same as the one then accepted by
the Bishops of France ; but it appears to me that the circum-
stances were quite different. With us the mixed system, as
embodied in the Queen's Colleges, was condemned; in France,
the Catholic system of education began to be -tolerated ; stu-
dents who had studied in purely Catholic colleges being
admitted to degrees ; and the control of education was given
to a mixed bureau or board, composed of persons of various
religious denominations. The great question which, it would
seem to me, might have been raised in France, was, as to the
expediency of permitting Protestantism and Judaism, which re-
present only a very small fraction of the population, to be placed
on an equality with Catholicity in the supreme bureau or
board ; or rather in degrading the Catholic religion, as to its
influence or authority over education, to a level with these
denominations, subjecting it to the supreme control of the
State. Again: the system of State Education which exists in
the "Lyc£es"is very bad, both in theory and in practice; it is,
in truth, a mixed system of the worst kind, since many of the
pupils, whose opinions are heterodox, or even infidel, live
together in the "Lyc&s" the teachers are often professedly
infidels, and although the bishops have the right of appointing
one or more "AumMers" or Chaplains, to each "Lyce'e" the
influence of these priests is often very trifling. The Bishop of
Orleans had told us that he selects the best men he can find for
406 Notes during a Journey in Frame.
the post of "Aumdniers" but he admitted that theirs is a
thankless, and, generally, an almost fruitless task, although
some of the Professors of the University and "Lycees" are
truly excellent men. On the other hand, it must not be for-
gotten, that until the change of the law in 1850, an infidel
University entirely monopolized lay education in France.
Catholic Colleges were closed, at least their pupils could not
obtain University degrees, which, in France, are indispensably-
necessary for nearly every public career; and the "Petit
Shninaire" could receive no students but those destined for
the ecclesiastical state.
With respect to our University, the Bishop of Moulins said
that we had his warmest sympathy, and that he would be
most happy to forward the interests of our institution by every
means in his power. Considering, therefore, with us in what
way he could best advance the cause of .the^ Catholic Univer-
sity of Ireland, he said that an appeal in Moulins, or even in
the chief towns and parishes of his diocese would be produc-
tive of little or no advantage ; but, " there is one thing," he
added, "which I can offer you, and I will give it with the
greatest pleasure, viz. — a sermon in Vichy in the season, that
is, in July next. There the preacher would have an audience
representing the whole of Europe, and the sermon would have
' un retentissement Europe'en! " Having accepted his lordship's
kind offer, he then asked me whether I knew any one who
would preach on the occasion. I alleged the difficulty of the
language, and I asked him whether there was any one whom
he would suggest, if he could not himself advocate the cause
of the University. He did not deem it advisable to undertake
the task himself ; but, on the name of Mgr. Mermillod, the
eloquent Bishop of Hebron, and Administrator of Geneva,
being mentioned, he was at once accepted by Mgr. Dreux-
Breze as the best advocate we could possibly have. His lord-
ship at once suggested that, as we intended to go to Lyons,
we should go on to Geneva, see Mgr. Mermillod, and invite
him to preach in Vichy next summer for the Catholic Univer-
sity of Ireland ; and " if he give you any hope that he will
accede to your wishes, let me know." The Bishop of Moulins
added — " I will myself formally invite him, and -I will go with
him to Vichy and* give him hospitality there."
I understood from Father Martin, or from some other
quarter, that Mgr. Mermillod is well known to the Bishop of
Moulins and his clergy, as he has preached one or more retreats
for the clergy of the diocese.
Notes during a Jottrney in France. 407
Geneva, 1st September.
Immediately on our arrival in Geneva we waited upon Mgr.
Mermillod, and explained to him our special business with
him. We told him, that being anxious to create in France a
public opinion in favour of the Catholic University of Ireland,
and having with this object called on the Bishop of Moulins,
his lordship had offered us a sermon in Vichy next year, in
the season, and had suggested his lordship, Mgr. Mermillod,
as the best person we could get to advocate the cause of
Catholic Education.
His lordship invited us to return to dine with him on
the morrow at twelve o'clock.
We had at table five or six lay gentlemen, chiefly
Belgians, and the President of the Society of St. Vincent de
Paul, in Geneva (a medical man), and also the bishop's Vicar-
General and secretary. Besides local matters, the conversa-
tion turned on the state of public affairs in England and
Ireland, the Church question, &c.
With respect to our University business, the bishop kindly
acceded to our request, and authorised me to inform the Bishop
of Moulins that he would preach next season in Vichy on the
claims which the Catholic University of Ireland has to the
sympathy of the Catholics of Europe. Or, if we preferred it,
he would preach in Lyons.
Before leaving, his lordship asked me whether we could
receive at the University some young ecclesiastical students,
should he wish to send them there to prepare for the sacred
ministry in the diocese of Geneva. I explained, as well as the
shortness of the time permitted — he introduced the subject
when I was taking my leave — that his subjects could scarcely
have suitable ecclesiastical training in the University ; and I
suggested to him All Hallows' College, of which I promised
to send him every information, and where, I said, I was sure
they would be happy to receive his students.
The venerable Mgr. Marilly, who resides at Fribourg, still
retains the title of Bishop of Geneva and Lausanne, on
account of his great services and his sufferings in the cause of
religion ; but I understood that Mgr. Mermillod is Adminis-
trator of Geneva, and on Mgr. Marilly's death, will be trans-
ferred from the see of Hebron, "in partibus" to that of Geneva,
another bishop being appointed for Fribourg and Lausanne,
and the present diocese of Lausanne ands Geneva being thus
divided. Mgr. Mermillod seems to be a most active and
energetic prelate ; he has erected a very beautiful church in
Geneva, and such is the progress of Catholicity in Geneva and
jts neighbourhood, that in the population of the town and
408 An Irish Missionary and his Work.
canton the Catholics have now the majority, viz., 42,000 to
40,000.
Besides the prelates I have mentioned, we had an oppor-
tunity, on our way homewards, of seeing the venerable Arch-
bishop of Besan^on, Cardinal Mathieu ; the Archbishop of
Paris; and in Belgium the Bishop of Bruges, and the Arch-
bishop of Mechlin, Mgr. Dechamps, C.SS.R. All these
prelates expressed the greatest sympathy with us in our
struggle in Ireland for the purity of higher education, and,
when occasion offers, will aid us by every means in their
power. I might mention many interesting particulars of
interviews with these illustrious prelates ; but already these
notes have swelled beyond the just bounds.
AN IRISH MISSIONARY OF THE SIXTH CENTURY
AND HIS WORK.1
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE
CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY, DUBLIN, JUNE, 1869.
IT is related in the life of our great apostle, St. Patrick, that
towards the close of his earthly pilgrimage, having prayed to
God that the fruit of his missionary toil might be made known
to him, he was conducted in spirit to the summit of a high
mountain, whence he could survey the whole island, and he
saw its hills and its valleys, its glens, its streams, its lakes,
all glowing with the sacred fire of divine faith.
Such, indeed, was Ireland in the sixth and seventh cen-
turies— this golden era of piety and learning in our island.
Providence, in its own mysterious ways, seemed thus to
prepare a home for religion and civilization, as they were
gradually driven from the other nations of the West. The
Roman provinces Jhad become a prey to Barbarian hordes,
and the tempest of destruction had slowly, but surely,
gathered around the seven-hilled city. Ireland, however,
protected by her insular position, felt not the fierce shock of
these invasions, and her sanctuaries, monasteries, and schools,
illumined with that heavenly light which St. Patrick had borne
1The best works on this subject are Montalembert's "Monks of the West,"
vol. 2nd; Dr. Greith's "Geschichte der Altirischen Kirche," Friburg, 1867; and
De la Torre "Vita di S. Colombano."
An Irish Missionary and his Work. 409
to our shores, presented a calm and befitting retreat for
the proscribed civilization of Europe.
Whilst thus the sanctity of her sons earned for Ireland
the proud title of "Island of Saints," she trained up mis-
sionary bands to win back the lost kingdoms of Europe
to the church's fold — new soldiers of Christ, who were to
subdue by the cross those very barbarians who now spread
terror throughout Christendom. Well, indeed, does our native
chronicler Marianus Scotus, write, under the year 589 : " Ire-
land, the island of saints, now exceedingly rejoiced in the
number of her saints and miracles."1
Eminent among these great saints, and foremost in the
ranks of Ireland's missionaries, was St. Columban. Closely
allied with the family that gave birth to our great national
patroness, St. Brigid, he was born about the year 430 in some
district of West Leinster. Whilst in his mother's womb, the
pious matron beheld in vision a bright star to arise from her
bosom. Its brilliancy dimmed all earthly light, and its cheer-
ing rays filled the whole world. Thus was foreshadowed the
future exalted sanctity of St. Columban, and the beneficent
influence of his virtues and zeal, which should one day be
a source of joy to many nations.
We shall not dwell on his early youth, and the many
combats which he sustained to enter on the rugged path. In
the monastery of Cluaninis he cultivated with care the
various branches of literature till his thirtieth year. Beau-
tiful is the scenery, and many are the choicest gifts of nature
that are scattered with rich profusion through the fair islands
of Lough Erne, but far more rich are they in the hallowed
memories which they bear — once studded with the cells of
those whose lives were devoted to virtue, and whose thoughts
were fixed on heaven. Here, under the guidance of St.
Sinell, every branch of science was carefully explored by
Columban. His biographer makes mention of his study of
grammar, rhetoric, geometry, poetry, and the Sacred Scrip-
tures. His works, moreover, attest his acquaintance not only
with the Latin but also with the Greek and Hebrew tongues,
and his poems, commentaries, instructions, and letters, which
have happily been preserved, still breathe the purest aroma of
the classic age.
Having attained the age for priesthood, St. Columban pro-
ceeded to the monastery of Bangor. In this "Valley of
Angels," vallis Angelorum, as it was popularly called in our
1 " Hibernia, insula sanctorum sanctis et mirabilibus perplurimis sublimiter plena
habetur." Ad. an. 696 of his chronicle, the year 589 of our era. Pertz, Monum.
Germ. torn. vii. p. 544.
410 An Irish Missionary and Jus Work.
early Church, the sanctity of St. Comgall renewed the glories
of Lerins,and thousands of fervent disciples, under his guidance,
pursued the paths of perfection. " Holy is the rule of Ban-
gor," (thus, in the seventh century, one of its own sons chaunted
the praises of this monastery) — " it is noble, just, and admi-
rable.— Blessed is its community — founded on unerring faith —
graced with the hope of salvation — perfect in charity. — A ship
that never is submerged — though beaten by the waves. v . A
house full of delights — founded upon a rock. . . Truly an
enduring city — strong and fortified. . . The ark shaded
by the cherubim — on all sides overlaid with gold. . A prin-
cess meet for Christ — clad in the sun's light. . A truly
regal hall — adorned with various gems. . A virgin most
fruitful — a mother also chaste. . . For whom a happy
life is laid up with the perfect — prepared by God the Father." 1
I will not detain you with —
" The holy valiant deeds
Of its sacred Fathers...
The noble deeds of Abbots —
Their number, times, and names
Of never-ending lustre."2
A few facts will suffice to illustrate the spirit that pervaded
the great monastery at the period of which we treat. St.
Molua, when a youth tending his father's flocks, felt an eager
desire to devote himself to science, and he sought to join the
community of St. Comgall, the better to attain that end. His
desire was revealed to the holy abbot, who, seeking out the
little shepherd, asked him was he not afraid that the pursuit
of learning would expose him to many dangers, and perhaps
even turn him away from God. Molua replied, " If I attain
true knowledge I shall never offend God : for they who
offend him are they who know him not." St. Comgall at once
conducted him to the monastery, saying to him, " Thou art
firm in the faith, my son, true knowledge will guide thee in
the road to heaven."
Of another monk of Bangor named Dagan, cotemporary
with St. Columban, it is recorded that he passed his nights
in transcribing manuscripts, and his days in reading and
carving in iron and copper. So devoted was he to labour
that he is said to have constructed three hundred bells and
1 This beautiful sequence is preserved in the Antipkonarium Benchorense, pub-
lished in his " Anecdota," by Muratori, from the MSS. of Bobbio, preserved in the
Ambrosian Library, Milan.
2 This is another sequence of the same " Antiphonariuni;"
An Irish Missionary and his Work. 41 1
croziers, and to have transcribed three hundred copies of the
Gospels. One day, as he gave an exhortation to the religious,
he said to them, " I thank my God that he has made me re-
cognize among you the three orders of perfect religious life : —
those who are angels for purity, those who are apostles for
activity, and those who are martyrs in desire, being ready,
were it needed, to shed their blood for Christ."
For several years St. Columban enjoyed a calm retreat
within the hallowed walls of Bangor, and satiated his mind at
the pure springs of true knowledge. Another thought, how-
ever, now engaged his soul, another desire was fixed in his
inmost heart ; he yearned to carry the light and life of
heavenly truth to remote nations who were seated in the
shadow of death — to check by the cross of Christ that bar-
barism which was quickly bearing away the vestiges of civili-
zation throughout the Continent, and to re-produce in the
distant desert lands the bloom and the fragrance of Bangor.
Having received his abbot's blessing, Columban, accom-
panied by twelve companions, set out on his holy enterprise.
The chronicler of his life records that on his way he visited
Britain, but no details of this visit have been preserved to us.
It may have been that he wished to receive the blessing of his
great namesake, St. Columbkille, whose cell on lona was
rapidly becoming the metropolis of faith for the Picts and
Britons ; or, perhaps, he desired to visit the tomb of St. David,
that illustrious Cambro-Irish saint who, famed for miracles
and sanctity, had, only a few years before, closed his earthly
pilgrimage in his loved monastery of Menevia, which stood
at the southern extremity of Wales facing Ireland, and whither
Irish and Britons now flocked alike to pay the tribute of their
homage, and to earn his patronage.
It was about the year 575 1 that St. Columban and his
companions landed on the northern shores of Gaul. For
some months they strayed along the banks of the river Somme ;
but everywhere received insults and injuries from the inhabi-
tants. At length a rich nobleman named Riquier welcomed
them into his house : and, in reward for his hospitality, he
was soon inspired with an eager desire to practise the
Christian virtues. In after years he himself joined the ranks
of St. Columban, and devoted his life to the conversion of
those who had rejected the preaching of his Irish guests.
1 Mabillon and Pagi have warmly discussed the date of St. Columban's arrival
ii/Gaul. The best treatise on the subject is that of De la Torre, a benedictine of
Monte Cassino, in the introduction to his " Vita di S. Colombano." I reserve to
another occasion the proofs for the chronology which I have adopted throughout
this lecture. "
412 An Irish Missionary and his Work.
Such was his courage that he did not fear even to reproach
the king and his courtiers for their irregularities. The king,
far from being offended, sent to him a large donation, request-
ing that a special light should be kept burning before the
altar as a token of the spiritual light with which the intrepid
missionary had enriched his soul.
But to return to St. Columban, the fame of the Celtic
travellers soon reached the Court of Sigebert. Being sum-
moned before the king, Columban declared, in the name of
his companions, that they had not left their country in search
of any earthly wealth, but only that they might follow
Christ and bear His cross. Sigebert assured them of his
favour, and told- them they would easily find some solitary
spot within his kingdom where they might devote themselves
to their practices of piety; one only condition he required
from them — that they should on no account leave Gaul, nor
think of converting other nations till they had first preached
the glad tidings of salvation to the Franks.
Columban journeyed on towards the frontier; but before
we trace with him the foundations of his religious home, we
may pause for a moment to consider the state of Gaul at the
period of which we treat.
Someone may perhaps imagine that there was but little
work in France for the missionary zeal of a new Apostle. It
is, indeed, the boast of that Catholic land, that from the day
when Clovis with his three thousand warriors was vanquished
by the - prayers of Clotilde, and received the waters of bap-
tism at the hands of St. Remi, the cross of Christ has ever
been emblazoned on its banners.
Others might be disposed to rush to the opposite extreme,
and there are modern historians who assert that when St.
Columban set out on his work of evangelization, the Sun of
Faith had set on Gaul, and its people were once more plunged
into the depths of Paganism.
Both these extreme views are alike exaggerated. There were
many holy men in France when St. Columban entered on
his mission there. St. Germain ruled the church of Paris, and
by his devoted charity and his paternal guardianship of the
poor, became one of the most popular saints in the traditions
of Gaul. St. Gregory, of Tours, fearlessly fed the flock of
Christ in that city; and many other honoured names are re-
gistered in the annals of the French church, of bishops and
holy men who zealously laboured in the cause of religion, and
braved every peril to trim the lamp of faith, and preserve for
their country the traditions of holy church.
Still there was work for our Celtic Apostle. Even before
An Irish Missionary and his Work. 413
the hardy Franks had issued from the German forests, the
constant irruptions of barbarians had well nigh severed every
social bond in Gaul, and the writers of the age attest that the
civilization, not only of the old Celtic inhabitants, but also of
the Roman settlers, was well nigh wholly decayed. Thus, the
Frank tribes, after gaining an easy victory on the battle-field,
came in contact with a corrupt civilization, which, instead of
reclaiming, served only to intensify their barbarism, and to
raise new barriers against the cross of Christ. As the inhabi-
tants had long ceased to cultivate their lands, whole fertile
provinces had become desert wastes ; a wild vegetation
covered the open fields with copsewood, and transformed the
richest valleys into vast impenetrable forests. In one corner,
alone, of Burgundy, there were reckoned, in the middle
of the sixth century, no fewer than six forests. Towards the
northern frontiers cf Gaul, the wooded country was yet more
extensive, and even in the provinces least depopulated, long
lines of brushwood extended from forest to forest, enveloping
all Gaul in one vast network of shade and silence.1
It was vain to hope that the ruling powers in Gaul would
reflect some cheering ray on this dismal scene.
On the death of Clothaire, in 561, his vast kingdom was
divided between his three sons. To Sigebert, the bravest,
was allotted Austrasia, which extended from the banks of
the Somme to the Vosges, and thence, stretching along the
banks of the Rhine comprised within its rule the North-
eastern provinces of Switzerland. This prince, by his valour,
advanced his frontier even to the banks of the Danube, made
the Saxons his tributaries, and drove the Lombard hordes
into Italy. The Arian King of the Spanish Goths, filled
with admiration for such valour, gave to Sigebert his daughter
Brunehaut in marriage. Brunehaut became a Catholic to
please her new subjects, and for some years she was extolled
throughout all Gaul, not only for her surpassing beauty, but
still more for her piety, prudence, and moderation.
1"Montalembert," p. 320. He adds: — " We must imagine Gaul and- all the
neighbouring countries, the whole extent of France, Switzerland, Belgium, and
both banks of the Rhine — that is to say, the richest and most populous countries
of modern Europe — covered with forests such as are scarcely to be seen in America,
and of which there does not remain the slightest trace in the ancient world. We
must figure to ourselves these masses of sombre and impenetrabe wood covering
hills and valleys; the high table land, as well as the marshy bottom, descending
to the banks of the great rivers, and even to the sea, broken here and there by
water- courses, which laboriously forced a way for themselves across the roots and
fallen trees; perpetually divided by bogs and marshes, which swallowed up the
animals or men who were so ill-advised as to risk themselves there; and inhabited
by innumerable wild beasts, whose ferocity had scarcely been accustomed to fly
before man, and of which many different species have since almost completely
disappeared from our country."
VOL. V, ?8
414 A*1 Md1 Missionary and his Work,
Gontran, to whom posterity has given the epithet of " the
devout," received the kingdom of the Bourgignons, or Bur-
gundy, for his portion. The Vosges, with its mountains and
forests, formed its northern frontier, and thence it stretched
towards the south, along the rich valleys of the Rhone.
Chilperic, the most wicked and most unfortunate of the
sons of Clothaire, became king of Neustria, and fixed his
capital at Soissons. He divorced his lawful wife in order to
espouse the sister of Brunehaut ; but soon the Spanish dame
had reason to look back with regret towards the sunny plains
of her native land. By order of her husband she was strangled
in the royal palace, and a servant named Fredegonda was
summoned to share the honors of the throne of Chilperic.
Brunehaut vowed to revenge the murder of her sister, and
the fires of civil strife were at once lighted up throughout all
Gaul. An army of barbarians gathered together beyond the
Rhine by Sigebert, devastated without opposition the pro-
vinces of Neustria. Chilperic, on the other hand, entered
the western defenceless provinces of Austrasia, and committed
equal ravages. This fratricidal war, for its ferocity and barbarity,
has scarcely a parallel in history. Chilperic and Fredegonda
were at length shut up within the walls of Tournay, and
Sigebert, borne on the shields of his victorous soldiers, was
proclaimed monarch of the two kingdoms. His triumph,
however, lasted only for a few months, for, when, after a
tedious siege, Tournay was reduced to the last extremities,
the hand of the assassin came to the aid of Fredegonda, and
cut short the victorious career of Sigebert.
It would be tedious to pursue in detail the atrocities that
subsequently marked the varying vicissitudes of the rival
parties. Suffice it to say that Fredegonda soon squandered
away the treasures of Chilperic ; his subjects were overwhelmed
with taxes and vexations of every kind, to enable her to carry
out her wicked designs ; at length, becoming wearied of
Chilperic himself, she caused him to be assassinated, and had
herself proclaimed regent of Neustria, in .the name of her
infant son Clothaire, who was only four months old.
It was whilst Columban journeyed on, seeking a secluded
spot for his future monastery, that the news of the murder
of Sigebert was brought to him; he therefore passed the
frontiers of Austrasia, and, entering the desert of Vosges,
resolved to make it his home. Annegray1 was thus chosen
for the first foundation under his monastic rule.
1 Now a village of the Commune of Faucogney, in Haute Saone.
An Irish Missionary and his Work. 415
The fame of the virtues, miracles, and penitential life of
the Celtic strangers could not be long confined within the
desert of Vosges. Thousands flocked thither from every part
of Gaul, to receive the words of life, and many of the noblest
Franks, flying from the violence and corruption of their re-
spective courts, chose, as a greater good, the rigid rule of
St. Columban.
Annegray was soon too small for the crowds that sought
to enrol themselves in its community. The ruins of another
Roman castle or encampment named Luxeuil, situated at the
foot of the hilly range of Vosges, on the confines of the
kingdoms of Austrasia and Burgundy, and not far distant
from Annegray, were chosen as the site of a second monas-
tery, which soon became the spiritual metropolis of both
kingdoms. A few years later, a third monastery was erected
in the same district, at a spot, which, from its salubrious
springs, was called Fontaines. Six hundred disciples of the
great Irish missionary dwelt in these three monasteries, and
in a short time that form of perpetual prayer known as laus
pereunis, was instituted, so that in unwearied succession, by
night and day, throughout this vast solitude, the voices of the
religious, like those of the angels, celebrated in unceasing
psalmody the praises of God.
This awakening of fervent prayer and piety was the first
fruit of St. Columban's zeal. It was not, however, confined
within the precincts of his monasteries. The multitudes that
flocked from the surrounding districts to receive instructions
bore with them to their homes, hearts glowing with devo-
tion, and a spirit of religion was gradually evoked, which
rapidly extended throughout all Gaul. Seldom was a
sweeter concert raised from earth to heaven than that of
the myriad voices which thus ascended before the throne of
God, from the glades of the rude forests, from the sides
of the rocks, from the banks of the torrents, and entoned a
hymn of joy, gratitude, and adoration to celebrate their
spiritual happiness. "The church," says Montalembert,
"has known days more resplendent and more solemn, days
better calculated to raise the admiration of sages, the fervour
of pious souls, and the unshaken confidence of her children,
but I know not if she has ever breathed forth a charm
more touching and pure than in this spring-time of monastic
life. In that Gaul which had borne for five centuries the
ignominious yoke of the Caesars — which had groaned under
barbarian invasions — and where everything still breathed
bjood, fire, and carnage, Christian virtue, watered by the
spirit of penitence and sacrifice, began to bud everywhere,
4i 6 An Irish Missionary and his Work.
Everywhere faith seemed to blossom, like flowers after the
winter ; everywhere moral life revived and budded, like the
verdure of the woods ; everywhere, under the ancient arches
of the Druidical forests was celebrated the fresh betrothal of
the church with the Prankish people." — (p. 384.)
In the desert of Vosges the true dignity of man was fear-
lessly proclaimed. Every rank and condition of life was re-
presented in that army of God, and the serf and plebeian
ranked equal with the prince and courtier, under the stan-
dard of St. Columban. Rich or poor, bond or free, learned
or untutored, were taught 'to kneel before the same altar,
and to pursue the same path of perfection. Thus the wealthy
Romaric distributed his possessions to the poor, and, accom-
panied by a number of his own serfs, entered the monasteiy
of Luxeuil. Here he gladly recognized his former slaves,
not only as brethren, but as superiors, for he sought the
lowest occupations in the monastery, and it was his delight,
even whilst learning the psalter, to be engaged in some
manual labour.
And now it will not surprise us to find that St. Columban's
mission awakened a new spirit of industry and labour through-
out all Gaul. The religious of the monastery took part by
turns in the tillage of the surrounding fields. In the lives of
the great founder and his brother saints we see them employed
at intervals in mowing, reaping, and cutting wood. Even the
sick were obliged to work, and as a lighter task the thrashing
of the corn was allotted to them. So much was this insisted
on that St. Columban's monastic rule expressly enjoins that
the religious should retire to rest so exhausted that sleep should
overcome him on the way, and that he should rise again to
labour before sleep had given full repose to his wearied limbs.
" It is at the cost of this excessive and perpetual labour,"
writes Montalembert, " that the half of France and of ungrate-
ful Europe has been restored to cultivation and industry." —
(p. 405).
The example of such works exercised a salutary influence
upon the rustic population, and those who hitherto fled from
toil now joyfully associated themselves in labour with the dis-
ciples of Columban. I may be allowed to give a few ex-
amples of the salutary influence thus exercised by the religious
in the promotion of agriculture. A monk named Theodulf,
descended from a long line of illustrious ancestors, was re-
markable for his fervour, and for twenty-two years laboured
almost incessantly at the plough. When, at length he was
chosen abbot, and was, therefore, obliged to devote bis atten-
tion to other cares, the people of the neighbouring village took
An Irish Missionary and his Work. 417
his plough and hung it up as a relic in their church. It was,
indeed, a relic, " a noble and holy relic of one of those lives of
perpetual labour and superhuman virtue whose example has
happily exercised a more fruitful and lasting influence than
that of the proudest conquerors. It seems to me that we
should all contemplate with emotion, if it still existed, that
monk's plough, doubly sacred, by religion and by labour,
by history and by virtue : for myself, I feel that I should kiss
it as willingly as the sword of Charlemange or the pen of
Bossuet" 1
Of another monk, named Ermenfried, who from the highest
post in the Royal court had passed to the monastery of
Luxeuil, it is recorded that on Sundays he distributed the
eulogia, or blessed bread, to the inhabitants of the surrounding
districts. Whenever he perceived the hard hands of the
ploughman he stooped down and kissed with loving tenderness
these noble marks of the week's toil : and whilst the descendants
of the Frank conquerors thus, before the altar of Christ, kissed
the rough hand of the Gaulish husbandman, it cannot surprise
us that the deserts of Vosges should in a short time be peopled
with devoted citizens, and be changed into that smiling garden
which it has continued to be to our own days.
The history of St. Waleric, whose harsh name has been
softened down to the more classic and sweeter sound of
Valery, presents to us, perhaps better than any other, a
faithful picture of the laborious and fruitful life of the religious
of Luxeuil. He was a shepherd boy of Auvergne. Seeing
that the sons of the nobility flocked to the monastery for in-
struction, he too was fired with holy desire to share their lessons
of heavenly wisdom. He cut his own tablets in the forest,
and, with the help of some of the monks, the first diffi-
culties of the alphabet and rudiments were overcome. In a
short time, such was his proficiency, that, though he yet
tended his father's flock, he had committed to memory the
whole Psalter. Being at length admitted to the monastery,
the care of the novices' garden was assigned to him. He
laboured incessantly at this post, and a special blessing seemed
to reward his toil, for no flowers were so fragrant as those
which came from the lands of Valery. One day, whilst
St. Columban was engaged in imparting his lessons of
heavenly wisdom, Valery entered. The room was at once
filled with a sweet perfume, and St. Columban being told who
it was that bore with him this heavenly fragrance, said to him :
"It is thou, my beloved gardener, who art the true abbot and
1<<Montalembert," p. 397.
4i 8 An Irish Missionary and his Work.
lord of this monastery."1 Soon after Valery was sent by
St. Columban to evangelize the country around Amiens, where
many had relapsed into the vices of paganism. Miracles
marked his ministry. At the same time, so austeje was his
life, that he drank no wine or beer. Barley-bread was his only
food, and often times whole weeks were passed with only one
repast. Before his death he founded the great monastery of
Leuconatis, at the mouth of the Somme, where the high cliffs,
bathed by the sea and pointing to the sky, served to admonish
his religious of their true heavenly destiny. St. Valery suffered
much persecution during his missionary career, but in after
ages his memory was held in veneration, and the annalist re-
cords that the founders of two great dynasties, Hugh Capet
and William the Conqueror, as well as the bravest of the
English Kings, Richard Cceur-de-Lion, came to the shrine of
this humble shepherd boy to pay the tribute of their homage.
St.. Columban could not expect that the enemy would allow
him to enjoy perpetual peace in his religious home. Some
disciplinary peculiarities of the Irish religion, in the form of their
tonsure, and in the time of their celebration of Easter, gave
occasion to his first conflict. When the Bishops of Gaul as-
sembled to deliberate on the matter, Columban addressed a
letter to them, which has happily been preserved, and which,
in each line, reveals to us the devoted piety and glowing spirit
of its writer. He begins by congratulating them on the inter-
est which they now gave proof of in the cause of Holy Church,
and he prays, that henceforth theirsynodsmay be more frequent,
in order that all abuses may be the more effectually checked.
He adds : — " I am not the cause of the difference that exists
in our observance. I have come into those parts a poor
stranger for the cause of Christ, the Saviour, our common God
and Lord. I ask of your Holinesses but a single favour : that
you will permit me to live in silence in the depth of these forests,
near the bones of seventeen brethren, who have already passed
to their reward. I shall pray for you with those who remain
to me, as I ought, and as I have always done for twelve years.
Let us live with you in this Gaul where we now are, since we
are destined to live with each other in heaven, if we are found
worthy to enter there. Despite our lukewarmness we will
follow, the best we can, the doctrines and precepts of our Lord
and the Apostles. These are our weapons, our shield, and our
glory. To remain faithful to them we have left our country and
are come among you. It is yours, holy fathers, to decide what
must be done with some poor veterans, some old pilgrims, and
•"Contigit ut beato Columbano fratres sacris Icctionibus instituente et divini
verbi sexnina spargente, &c."~ Vita S. WalericL
An frisk Missionary and his Work. 419
would it not be better to console than to disturb them. I dare
not go to you for fear of entering into some contention with
you, but I confess to you the secrets of my conscience, and
how I firmly believe in the tradition of my own country, which
is moreover the teaching of St. Jerome." And then, after
a lengthened reasoning on the subjects under discussion, he
concludes — " God forbid, that we should delight our enemies,
namely, the Jews, heretics, and pagans, by strife among Chris-
tians. . : . If God guides you to expel me from the desert,
which I have sought here beyond the seas, I should only say
with Jonas, ' Take me up and cast me forth into the sea, so that
the sea may be calm' . . . Yet pray for us as we, despite
our lowliness, pray for you. Regard us not as strangers to
you, for all of us, whether Gauls, Britons, Irish, or others, are
members of the same body. I pray you all, my holy and
patient fathers and brethren, to pardon my talkativeness, and
the boldness of one who is engaged in labour beyond his
strength."
This storm was scarcely hushed when a more eventful con-
flict awaited our great missionary, the first of the many
conflicts, which, throughout the middle ages, were sustained by
the cloister in defence of the purity of Christian morals.
In the year 596 Brunehaut assumed the reins of power in
the kingdoms of Austrasia and Burgundy, as regent in the
names of their respective sovereigns,, her grandsons, Theodo-
bert and Thierry. The nobles of Austrasia, disgusted at her
rule, soon caused Theodobert to expel her from that kingdom.
Then Burgundy alone remained to her, and fearing a rival
near the throne of Thierry she opposed his marriage, and
caused him to plunge into the worst of vices. Even when he
at length espoused a Visigoth princess, she caused him to re-
pudiate her at the end of a year.
One day when Columban was summoned to the royal
mansion at Bourcheresse, Brunehaut presented to him the
four sons of Thierry. " Why do you present these children
to me ?" asked Columban. " They are the sons of the king,"
replied Brunehaut, " strengthen them with thy blessing." " I
cannot bless them," answered Columban ; "and these children
of unlawful birth shall never wear their father's crown." Brune-
haut was filled with rage, and from that moment vowed the
destruction of the Columbian monasteries. Thierry, at her
instigation, presented himself at the gates of Luxeuil, and
having, without permission, entered the monastery with his
followers, proclaimed that thenceforward its enclosure should
cease, or the monks must lose the royal gifts. Columban,
with his usual courage, replied to the king : "If you seek to
42O An Irish Missionary and his Work.
violate our rules, we cannot accept your gifts ; and as you
come here to destroy our monastery, know that your kingdom
shall be destroyed with all your race."
It was only in defence of the purity and dignity of Chris-
tian marriage that St. Columban waged this war against
Brunehaut. In punishment for his intrepidity he was now
expelled for the first time from Luxeuil, and conducted to
Besancon, whilst a rigorous blockade was established around
the monastery to prevent any communication of tHe religious
with their spiritual Father.
This was in the year 610. For a short time the saint re-
mained unmoved in Besangon, surrounded by the respect of
its people, who had long felt the benign influence of his virtues.
One morning, as he ascended the rock on which the citadel now
stands, and surveyed the road which leads to Luxeuil, his
heart was filled with emotion, and, despite the royal mandate,
be bent his steps towards his loved monastery. The momentary
joy of his afflicted children was quickly succeeded by a more
bitter separation, and after an abode of twenty years at Lux-
euil, St. Columban was now forced by the soldiers of Thierry
to quit its hallowed walls, and all the surviving Irish monks
were commanded to depart with him.
Led away a second time to Besangon, he was thence, with
his companions, conducted by a military guard to Nevers :
there they embarked upon the Loire, and passing by Orleans
and Tours, were put on board an Irish ship in Nantes. The
narrative of this journey across the very centre of Gaul was
penned by an eye-witness, and presents many scenes full of the
deepest interest. At Orleans he sent two of his followers to
buy provisions, but the citizens were prohibited to hold any
communication with him. A Syrian woman, however, pre-
sented herself. " I am a stranger like you," she said, " and
I come from the distant East." She offered them hospitality,
and in reward, her husband, who was blind, had his sight
restored to him at the blessing of Columban. At Tours he
begged to be permitted to pray at the tomb of the great St.
Martin ; but his savage guards only replied by ordering the
boatmen to redouble their speed whilst passing through this
city. However, an invisible force stayed the boat ; Columban
landed, and spent the night before the relics of. St. Martin.
Next day he met one of the chief officers of Thierry, and filled
with the spirit of prophecy, told him :— " Say to thy friend,
the king, that three years from this time he and his children
shall be destroyed, and his whole race shall be rooted out by
God.
Arrived at Nantes, the thoughts of Columban were again
An Irish Missionary and his Work. 421
turned to Luxeuil, and he penned a letter, which begins : " To
his dearest sons, his 'dearest pupils, his abstemious brethren,
to all the monks. — Columban the Sinner." This letter is re-
plete with the most tender affection for his loved disciples, and
conveys admirable instructions for their future guidance. One
of the religious named Waldolene had not been present at his
departure from Luxeuil, and now our saint tells Attalus, with
loving solicitude : — " Always take care of Waldolene, if he
is still with you ; may God grant him everything that is good ;
give him, for me, the kiss of peace, which I could not give him
myself." The letter concludes as follows : — "While I write
they come to tell me that the ship is ready, the ship which is
to carry me back against my will to my country. . . The
end of my parchment obliges me to finish my letter. Love is
not orderly ; it is this that has made my letter so confused. I
wished to abridge everything that I might say everything ;
and yet I could not say all that I desired. Adieu, dear
hearts ; pray for me that I may live to God."
The vessel in which Columban embarked had scarcely set
sail when it was driven back upon the coast of Gaul by a
violent storm, and once more the saint, with his companions,
was at liberty to pursue his missionary pilgrimage. They bent
their steps to Soissons, where Columban repeated to the now
reigning Clothaire the prophetic announcement that before
three years the kingdoms of Austrasia and Burgundy would be
added to his dominions. Continuing their journey, the holy
pilgrims traversed the whole of the southern districts of Aus-
trasia. As they passed through Paris, Meaux, and Champagne,
many of the Frank nobility brought their children to receive
the blessing of St. Columban, and we will see hereafter how
copious were the fruits of holiness that were granted as their
reward.
Theodobert pressed our saint to remain in his kingdom ; but
another thought had now taken deep root in the soul of the
fervent missionary. In his monastery of Luxeuil he had often
pondered with sorrow on the sad gloom of paganism that
hung over so many fertile countries beyond the Rhine, and
it was now his fixed resolve to bear to these benighted regions
the sacred light of the Gospel. Embarking upon the Rhine
below Mayence, he pursued the course of that majestic river to
the lake of Zurich. At Tuggan, where the river Limmat
enters the lake, he founded a monastery, and remained for
some time announcing the truths of faith to the pagan
inhabitants of the surrounding country. Thence he passed
to Bregentz, on the shores of Lake Constance, where the
Alleman tribes still offered sacrifice to Woden. In an
422 An Irish Missionary and his Work.
ancient church of St. Aurelia three golden statues were
adored by these idolators. St. Columban fearlessly broke the
idols to pieces, and cast the fragments into the lake. He
then proceeded to purify the church ; and it is interesting
to learn from the contemporary historians of his life, the ceremo-
nies with which our Celtic missionary restored this sanctuary of
St. Aurelia to the piety of the faithful. Causing water to be
brought, he blessed it and sprinkled it around the church.
He next chaunted psalms around the edifice, and hallowed its
precincts. Then he consecrated the altar, and replaced in
it the relics of St. Aurelia, and indescribable was the joy of
the old inhabitants when once more within these hallowed
walls they saw offered up the holy sacrifice of the Imma-
culate Lamb. In the monastery of Bregentz St. Columban
renewed the fervent life of Luxeuil. He himself laboured
in the fields, and fed the poor and the pilgrims with the
produce of his labour. He also made nets for his dear
companion St. Gall, and many were the miraculous draughts
of fish which repaid his charitable desire to meet the wants
of the poor. Still there were some of the idolators who
ceased not to persecute him. They even murdered two of
his companions. Then our saint shook the dust from his
sandals, saying : " We found, indeed, a golden vase here,
but serpents dwell within it. The God whom we serve
wishes us to preach elsewhere."
Hitherto the tribes of Gaul and the Pagan Suevi and
Allemans had engaged the zeal of St. Columban. The far
more ferocious race of .the Lombards, half Pagan, half
Arian, now awaited his ministry. Bidding, therefore, fare-
well to the cold hills of Switzerland, he bent his steps
through the path of St. Gothard towards the fair plains of
Italy, and in the very heart of the Lombard nation founded
a new citadel of Christian faith, and a new centre of reli-
gious observance, at Bobbio.
But whilst St. Columban thus enters on his new field of
labour at the foot of the Apennines, and whilst mid-way be-
tween Genoa and Milan, on those banks of the Trebbia which
were immortalized by the encampment of Hannibal, he traces
the foundation of his future monastery, we must leave him
for a while, and turn our thoughts to Gaul to consider the
rich spiritual harvest which there repaid one hundred-fold
his long years of missionary toil.
Events in Gaul had marched onward with rapid pace since
the departure of Columban. Theodobert and his children
were first cut off by Thierry. Then the hand of God fell
upon Thierry and all his race ; and before the close of the
An Irish Missionary and His Work. 423
year 613, Clothaire saw all the kingdoms of Gaul united in
his hands. Mindful of the prophecy of Columban, his first
care was to summon an assembly of the bishops, and to
send a deputation to our saint to invite him back to the
former field of his labours.
St. Columban did not comply with this request of Clothaire,
but sent to him instructions for his future guidance, replete with
the noblest maxims of heavenly wisdom. But though the
holy abbot was thus absent, his mission in Gaul was now
destined to attain a complete and glorious triumph. There
was no diocese throughout France that did not eagerly seek
a bishop from the Celtic monasteries of the Vosges ; and
what shall I say of the zealous labours of these sons of St.
Columban in restoring the vigour of ecclesiastical discipline,
and in re-constructing the scattered sanctuaries of God through-
out all Gaul.1 What shall I say, too, of the many re-
ligious communities that went forth from Luxeuil, like swarms
from the parent hive, to bear to other regions the many
blessings it had inherited from the Irish missionary.
The whole of the rich district of Burgundy, situated on the
banks of the Saone was the first to yield to the influence of
the monasteries of St. Columban. Donatus, who had been
long trained by our saint in the paths of piety, established a
noble monastery in Besan^on, which he dedicated to St. Paul,
even as that of Luxeuil bore the name of the Apostle St.
Peter. Subsequently, the same religious founded the great
monastery of Jussamoutier for nuns, whilst his brother,
through reverence for St. Columban, pro amore beati viri
Cojumbani? re-constructed, on the southern side of the Jura,
the religious institutions of Romain-moutier. Between the
Saone and the Tille, to the east of the Velvet Forest, arose
the abbey of Beze, whilst another famous monastery was
erected on the banks of the Cusancin, under the care of
Ermenfried. The same southern cluster of the Vosges was
1 ' ' Illa'se Ecclesia, " writes Yepez, ' ' et Episcopatus reputabat illustrem qui poterat
unum de Luxoviensis coenobii alumnis sibi prselatum accipere. " Yepez in "Chron. "
"From the banks of the Lake of Geneva to the coast of the north sea, "every
year saw the rise .of some monastery, peopled and founded by the children of Lux-
euil, whilst the episcopal cities sought as bishops, men trained to the government
of souls by the regenerating influence of this great monastery. Besanyon, Noyon,
Laon, Verdun, and the diocesan capitals of the country of the Rauraci and Morini,
were so fortunate as to obtain such bishops almost at the same time. Their good
fortune was envied by all, and all vied in seeking superiors whom they concluded
beforehand to be saints; and it was with reason, for, perhaps, so great a number of
men* honoured by the church after their death with public worship, has never been
collected on one point, and into so short a space as twenty years." (Montalembert,
p. 466). For the lives of these holy men, see "Vie des Saints de Franche-Comte,"
tome 2, p. 492, seqq.
2 Jonas' Vit, S, Col,, chap, 22,
424 An Irish Missionary and his Work.
also hallowed by the sanctuary of Remiremont This hill
still retained the temples, idols, and tombs of Pagan Rome,
but soon, on account of the two great monasteries, and the
seven chapels which adorned it, it was known throughout all
Gaul as the Holy Mount.
But this luxuriant vine was not yet exhausted ; having
rapidly spread through Burgundy, it soon filled Austrasia
with its clusters, whilst on the other side it extended over
Neustria, beyond the Loire, and as far as Aquitaine. What
shall .1 say of the monastery of Solignac,. founded by a
monk of Luxeuil, St. Eligius : it gave birth to many other
monasteries,1 and in after times was eulogized by the vene-
rable Peter of Cluny, as the most fervent religious house
of France. Four monasteries were founded in the district
of Bourges, by another disciple of our saint named Theodulf.
Then Moutier-la-Celle was founded at the gates of Troyes,
where the marshy island on which it stood was soon changed
to a smiling garden. What shall I say of Hautvilliers and
Moutier-en-Der, and Centula, all of which afterwards attained
high eminence in the Carlovingian era. But there is one religious
of Luxeuil who merits special mention. Audomar, or Omer,
possessed vast estates near the Lake of Constance, but
surrendered all to embrace the rule of St. Columban. From
Luxeuil he was chosen bishop of Therouanne, and to conso-
lidate his work of piety, founded the great monastery of
Sithiu. This holy house gave twenty-two saints to the calen-
dar of the church, whilst the city which sprung up around
the monastery, handed down to posterity the name of this
great bishop of Therouanne.
And here I would wish to mention the many families
that showed hospitality to St. Columban in his pilgrimage
through Austrasia, and which, fortified by his blessing, be-
came centres of piety throughout that kingdom. On the banks
of the Marne, he was joyously received by a Frank nobleman
named Autharis. The blessing of the holy missionary was
bestowed on the three sons of Autharis to repay this hospitality.
All three, remarkable for their zeal and piety, became in after
times the founders of great monasteries, and one of them,
St. Oue'n, was destined to attain special eminence as bishop
of Rouen.
Near Meaux, the family of Agnerric was specially enriched
by heaven in reward for its devoted attachment to the exiled
Columban. The little daughter of Agnerric, known to -his-
tory under the name of Burgundofora, braved the terrors
1 "Ex quo multi suinpserunt initium et exemplum,"— Vita S. Elig.,cap. 21.
An Irish Missionary and his Work. ' 425
of martyrdom, that she might devote herself wholly to God.
She founded the famous sanctuary of Faramoutier, which
was for centuries the cherished retreat of the daughters of the
Frank nobility. When the wicked Agrestin traduced St. Col-
umban and his disciples, and sought to detach Burgundofora
from the observance of the Celtic rule, he received from her the
well-merited reproach : — " I will have none of thy novelties ;
as for those whose detractor thou art, I know them, I know
their virtues, I have received the doctrine of salvation from
them, and I know that they have opened the gates of
heaven to many."
The brothers of Burgundofora vied with her in sanctity.
Cagnoald having shared the perils of St. Columban's exile,
laboured with him among the Allemans, and subsequently
became bishop of Laon. Another brother, named Faro, at-
tained the highest post in the army of Clothaire the Second,
but exchanging the sword for the cross, became bishop of
Meaux, in the midst of his paternal estates. It was his
anxious care to honour the memory of his spiritual Father
by founding hospices and monasteries for the pilgrim coun-
trymen of Columban ; 'and one of the pilgrim Scots whom
he thus welcomed was St. Fursey, who, at the bidding of
Faro, closed the fatigues of a long missionary life by becoming
Abbot of Lagny-sur-Marne. Another of the pilgrims wel-
comed to his hospice was St. Fiacre, who transformed the
wooded glades, given to him by the holy bishop of Meaux,
into gardens, and devoted their produce to the poor : to our
own days this great Irish pilgrim is venerated as the patron
of gardeners throughout all France.
Thus the mission of our saint, as apostle, as spiritual legis-
lator, as avenger of public order, and restorer of social life,
achieved complete success in Gaul ; and it is a striking fact,
which should never be forgotten in the history of the country
thus specially fostered by the blessing of Columban, and thus
quickened by his religious spirit into the full vigour of social
life, that, before one hundred years from the death of the
great Celtic pilgrim, it was precisely with this kingdom of
Austrasia, under Charles Martel, were linked the hopes and
destinies, not of France alone, but of all Europe and of
Christendom.
But whilst commemorating the happy results of St. Colum-
ban's labours we must not omit to mention the special fruit
of those who accompanied him from Ireland in his holy en-
terprise. Among his companions there was one named Die/mill,
whose name gradually assumed, on the Continent, the forms
of Deicolus and Desle. When the Irish monks took their
426 An Irish Missionary and his Work.
departure from Luxeuil, his strength failed him on the road
to Besangon. Unable to continue his journey, he entered the
adjoining forest ; here he met a swineherd, who at first fled
from him, terrified at his great stature and strange costume,1
but subsequently pointed out to him a habitable spot, where
he erected his cell. This forest was a favourite hunting-
ground of King Clothaire ; and one day a wild boar, pursued
by the royal party, took refuge in the cell at the feet of St.
Dichuill. Its life was spared through reverence for the holy
solitary ; and disciples, attracted by the fame of this event,
soon flocked to him for counsel. This cell became one of the
richest monasteries in Christendom ; the town of Lure grew
up around it, and its abbot, in later ages, was reckoned among
the princes of the Roman Empire.
The picturesque town of St. Ursanne, in the Swiss Canton
of Bale, owes its name to Ursicinus^ another Irish companion
of St. Columban. He chose for his cell the banks of a
deep and narrow gorge hollowed by the river Doubs, in the
very heart of the Jura range, not far from the coast of Lake
Bienne. He made it his special care to erect an hospice for the
sick poor and the wearied travellers who sought a path over
these rugged mountains. It was the privilege of his monastery
to give to heaven the two first martyrs of justice and charity
who adorned the Order of St. Columban.
One of the Celtic missionaries named Sigisbert accompanied
our great abbot through all his pilgrimages, even to the foot of
Mount St. Gothard, but obtained permission there to choose for
himself a silent retreat in the bosom of the highest Alps.
Crossing the glaciers and peaks of Crispalt he penetrated to
the sources of the Rhine, and erected his cell in a solitary spot
which was watered by a clear streamlet. At his preaching
the pagans of the surrounding forests soon felled their sacred
oaks, and in the midst of that vast wilderness a noble monas-
tery sprung up, which still subsists and gives name to the town
of Dissentis. Thus by our Celtic missioners was won and
sanctified, from its very source, that Rhine whose waters in
after times were to bathe so many illustrious monastic
sanctuaries.3
But the glory of all these holy men was far surpassed by
the fame of St. Caillech,4 better known by his latinized name
1 " Videns tarn procerae staturae virum et antea invisi habitus veste circumda-
tum."— (Vit. S. Deicol).
2 This is the Latin form of the Celtic name Mahoun, and of the modern
Matthews.
* " Montalembert," p. 456.
4 The old Irish cailech means a "cock," and corresponds with the Latin gal I us,
See Stokes' "Irish Glossaries," ad voc. Gall, p. 23,
An Irish Missionary and his Work, 427
of Gallus. He was nephew of our national patron St. Brigid,
and a near relative of St. Columban. He accompanied our
great abbot as far as Bregentz, where he devoted himself to
preach to the Allemanni tribes of Switzerland. When
St. Columban resolved on journeying on to Italy, St. Gall
fixed his retreat among his favourite barbarians, not far from
the spot where the Rhine falls into Lake Constance. He was
walking on," says his biographer, " pray ing that God might mark
out for him some chosen spot for his abode, when he stumbled
over some broken brushwood and fell to the ground." St. Gall
at once entoned the verse of the Psalmist : " This is my
chosen habitation ; this is my resting-place for ever." Here
he built his cell, and in front of it he arranged two hazel
boughs into the form of a cross, to which he attached the case
of relics which he carried round his neck. When St. Gall
closed his days, on the i6th of October, 646, "the entire
country of the Allemanns had become a Christian province,
and around his cell were already collected the rudiments of the
great monastery which, under the same name of St. Gall, was
to become one of the most celebrated schools of Christendom,
and one of the principal centres of intellectual life in the
Germanic world." 1
And here allow me to call your attention to the close bonds
of spiritual brotherhood which united together these Celtic
foundations of the companions of St. Columban. Of St. Gall
it is recorded that he sent one of his religious to Bobbio to
make enquiries about his great master. The messenger
brought back with him the cambatta or crozier of St. Colum-
ban, which the dying abbot had bequeathed to his loved
disciple.
Ten years later a deputation from Luxeuil, composed of
six Irish monks, waited on St. Gall in his mountain retreat.
They came in the name of the whole community to pray him
to undertake the government of that great monastery, which
was now vacant by the death of St. Eustasius. St. Gall, in-
deed, refused this honourable post, saying that he chose to
await his resurrection in the sanctuary which God had given
him for his inheritance ; but these events of his life sufficiently
prove how close was the spiritual friendship that subsisted
between the Celtic monasteries of Italy, Switzerland, and
Gaul.
The lives of the monks of the Columban monasteries abound
with similar examples. Thus we read of the rich Count Van-
dregisil, who, from praying at the tomb of St Ursicinus, passed
to the cloister of the adjoining monastery, and revived on the
1 "Montalembert," p. 461,
428 An Irish Missionary and his Work.
frontiers of Switzerland all the rigours and austerities of the
Celtic saints, that through devotion to St. Columban he made
a pilgrimage across the Alps to Bobbio ; and being filled with
admiration for the virtues of the fervent religious of that
monastery, he set out anew on a pilgrimage to Ireland itself,
to learn at the parent source the highest maxims of per-
fection. This noble pilgrim having thus renewed the bonds
of the monasteries of Switzerland and Italy with Ireland, re-
turned to Gaul and founded the great abbey of Fontenelle,
which was destined to fill an important place in the ecclesi-
astical history of Normandy. It is a curious fact that this
Columban monk was the first to plant the vine in Normandy.
The ruined towers of Jumieges still testify to the traveller
on the Seine the magnificence of another monastery, whose
founder, Philibert, emulated the virtues of St. Vandregisil. His
first pilgrimage was to Luxeuil ; thence he journeyed on to
Bobbio, to pray before the shrine of his spiritual father ; and
from Bobbio he pursued his course, seeking new sources of
edification at each of the branch monasteries that had sprung
from the same parent stock. His own great abbey of
Jumieges became a favourite resort for vessels from the. Irish
coast, and it is further recorded that the holy founder
erected in his church three altars — one under the invocation
of the holy Mother of God, another of St. John, the third of
St. Columban.1
And now, following in the footsteps of these venerable
pilgrims, we too may pass" in spirit to the rich plains of North
Italy to see the golden fruit that crowned the closing years
of our great missionary.
In the same year in which St. Gregory the Great as-
cended the throne of St. Peter, the Catholic Theodolinda, of
Bavarian origin, espoused the Lombard King Agilulf. Yet,
did not the Lombards cease to pursue their reckless course
of devastation. " This nation," says St. Gregory, " issued from
its native deserts, as the sword is drawn forth from its
scabbard, to mow down the human race." The ravages of
Agilulf extended even to the gates of Rome, and the city
itself was indebted for its safety to the vigilance of Pope
Gregory. " On every side," writes this great Pontiff, " there
is nought but desolation. Agilulf destroys the cities, changes
the towns into a heap of ruins, depopulates the plains, and
makes whole provinces one vast solitude. Many arrive in
1 The monastery of Jumieges was one of the most numerous in Gaul. At one
time it reckoned nine hundred religious within its walls. Its monks fitted out
vessels of their own in which they sailed to distant countries to redeem slaves and
captives,
An Irish Missionary and his Work. 429
Rome with their hands amputated ; others are led away into-
captivity, and on every side, there 'i nought but the torture
of unhappy victims and the image of death."1 And sub-
sequently he wrote to the Emperor Mauritius : "I was
obliged to see with my own eyes the Romans led away
into Gaul with ropes around their necks, like dogs, to be
sold in the market-place." 2
There are indeed many features of this Lombard ferocity,
which we have seen renewed in the north of Italy in our own
times. The monasteries of the holy virgins of Christ were
everywhere a special object of their rage, and a countless num-
ber of nuns was forced to seek a refuge and a home in
Rome. When a little later, Agilulf was baffled in his attack
upon the city, Pope Gregory again wrote : — " To the prayers,
and tears, and fasts of these exiled nuns, Rome owes its deli-
verance from the swords of the Lombards."3
The result of St. Columban's mission among these barba-
rians may be told in a few words : Theodolinda had, from
her infancy, known his fame of sanctity, and thus the way
was opened to him to approach the court of Agilulf. By
the zeal of our saint, combined with the efforts of St. Se-
cundus, bishop of Trent, the Lombard king at last yielded
to grace, and when the heir of his throne received the rege-
nerating waters of baptism, these two holy men acted as
sponsors, and, in his name, promised fealty to the Catholic
Church. On that day a new nation was gathered to the fold
of Christ, and a new era of social life dawned upon afflicted
Italy.
, At the urgent request of Agilulf, St. Columban, though
now weighed down by years, wrote a learned treatise against
the Arian heresy, with which a portion of the Lombard nation
had been infected. It required the sword of the Saracens
to root out Arianism from Spain ; but the zeal of the monks
of Bobbio 4 and the pen of St. Columban banished it for ever
from the plains of Italy.
Another task which our saint assumed, by order of the
Lombard king, was to write a long letter to the then reign-
ing Pontiff, St. Boniface the Fourth,, on the question of the
" Three Chapters." The controversy on this subject had raged
with special violence on the eastern coast of the Adriatic,
1 Homil. vi., lib. 2, in Ezecheil. 2Ep. 40, lib. 5. 3Epist. 26, lib. vii.
4 As an instance of the zeal of St. Columban's monks against Arianism, I may
mention, that one of them was beaten, and left for dead, by the followers of Ario-
wald, for refusing to salute that prince, who was infected with Arianism. — Vita S.
Bertulfi, cap. 15. Another of his monks was beaten to death whilst preaching
against Paganism.
VOL. V. 29
430 An Irish Missionary and his Work.
whither the sway of Agilulf now extended. It had hitherto,
however, but little engaged the thoughts of Columban, and
he knew but little of its details, as he repeatedly avows.
Yet, on the whole, his letter may be justly styled one of the
noblest apologetic treatises which have come down to us from
the seventh century. The enemies of our holy Church at the
present day refer to it indeed as a proof of the hostility of. St Co-
lumban to the See of Rome. But surely that writer does not
deny the authority of the Roman Pontiff, who calls upon the Pope
to cut off heresy from the fold of Christ ; he does not deny
the privileges of the successors of St. Peter, who declares
that they were divinely constituted to guide the helm of the
mystic ark of God ; he is not the enemy of the Vicar of Christ,
who lovingly addresses him as " his loved Master, his spiritual
Pilot, the Pastor of Pastors, the most honoured Head of all
the Churches," and yet such are the epithets repeatedly made
use of in this letter of St. Columban. You will permit me to add
one passage from this beautiful letter, which should be engraven
on the heart of every Irishman, and which, till the end of time,
will remain a monument of the piety and faith of our Celtic
Church : — " We, Irish, who inhabit the extremities of the
world," he thus writes, "are the disciples of St. Peter and
St. Paul, and the other Apostles, inspired by the Holy Ghost.
We receive no doctrine save that which is apostolical and di-
vine. There has never been a heretic, a Jew, or a schis-
matic among us. But those whom I see around me, and
who bear the burden of many heretics, are disturbed like a
frightened flock. Pardon me then, if sailing here amidst
many rocks, I have used any words displeasing to you.
The native liberty of my race has given me that boldness.
. . . We are bound to the chair of St. Peter ; for, how-
ever great and glorious Rome may be, it is this chair which
makes her great and glorious among us. Although the name
of your ancient city, the glory of Ausonia, has been spread
throughout the world as something supremely august by the
admiration of nations, yet to us you are only august and great
since the Incarnation of the Redeemer; since the Spirit of God
has breathed upon us, and since the Son of God, in his chariot,
drawn by these two ardent coursers of God, Peter and Paul,
has crossed the oceans of nations to come to us. Nay more,
because of these two Apostles of Christ, you are almost ce-
lestial, and Rome is the head of the Churches of the whole
world, excepting only the special privilege of the spot of the
divine Resurrection."
Never was the supremacy of Rome, and the unswerving
A n Irish Missionary and his Work. 43 1
attachment of our nation to the See of the Vicar of Christ,
expressed in words of more fervent and devoted eulogy.
I have said nothing of the special benefits conferred on
literature and science by the mission of St. Columban, and
now, at the close of my lecture, only a few words can be added
on that subject. The name of Bobbio shall never be forgotten
in the annals of literature. During ages of darkness and
storm it was the treasury of learning, as it was the central
abode of piety in North Italy ; and if the most precious fruits
of the classic genius of Rome and Greece have been preserved
to our times, to say nothing of the golden works of the
Fathers, we are indebted for them, in great part, to the toil
and skill of the monks of Bobbio.
Luxueil produced the same fruits of literature in Gaul.
"Luxueil," writes Montalembert, "was the most celebrated
school of Christendom during the seventh century, and the most
frequented. The monks and clerics of other monasteries, and
more numerous still, the children of the noblest Frank and
Burgundian races, crowded to it. Lyons, Autun, Langres,
and Strasbourg, the most famous cities of Gaul, sent their
youth thither. The fathers came to study with their chil-
dren ; some aspiring to the honour of counting themselves
one day among the sons of Columban ; others to re-enter
into secular life, with the credit of having drawn their know-
ledge of divine and human science from so famous a seat of
learning. As it always happens, when a great centre
of Christian virtues is found in the world, light and life
shines forth from it, and brighten all around with irresistible
energy."1
Amongst those who flocked to its halls was Conon, abbot
of the famous monastery of Lerins. That great school in
which our own apostle, St. Patrick, had drunk in the teach-
ings of heavenly truth, had long since begun to be subject
to a gradual decay, and now its representative comes forth
from its cloister to seek at the hands of the Irish pilgrim
strength and light to renew its former glory.
What shall I say of the monastery of St. Gall, which at-
tained an equally high fame for its learning and its sanctity
among the Germanic nations ? When Charlemange visited
that monastery the deacon chaunted the versicle ; " Istud
sanctorum concludit millia templum." 'Countless are the
saints enshrined within these walls.' People in search of learn-
ing and piety flocked to it from all parts of Europe, rich
and poor, nobles as well as plebeians, and so populous did
1 Page 464.
432 • An Irish Missionary and his Work.
it become that the honours of an imperial eity were awarded
to it. One of its own pupils was able to write of it in the
tenth century : " Inde fons infertur sapientiae per cunctas
totius Europae provincias derivatus, omnibusque hucusque,
Dei nutu, suavissimo se potabilem dulcorabat gustu."1
This school of St. Gall was, in a special manner, famed for
the cultivation of poetry and music : and even in subsequent
ages we meet with some pilgrims from Ireland, who, having
gone thither through reverence for its Celtic founder, were
detained there to teach these branches to the German youths.
And yet, if we may credit contemporary writers, it was no
easy task to awaken the genius of harmony among the Al-
lemans of those days. It is a writer of the ninth century that
thus describes the special difficulties which beset the Allemans
in the study of music : " Alpina siquidem corpora vocum
suarum tonitruis altisone perrepentia, susceptae modulationis
dulcedinem, proprie non resultant : quia bibuli gutturis barbara
levitas, dum in flexionibus et repercussionibus mitem nititur
edere cantilenam, naturali quodam fragore, quasi plaustra per
gradus confuse sonatia rigidas voces jactat.2
Such were the rough Allemans in whom the sense of melody
had to be awakened by the Celtic masters of St. Gall. If long
ago that nation has overcome the harshness of its original
jargon, and has attained high eminence in the science of
music, it should never be unmindful of those who first taught
its sons to entune the harp and excited in them an ardor for the
enchanting strains of harmony.
I have thus endeavoured to briefly sketch for you a few of
the blissful results which were attained by the missionary
enterprise of St. Columban and his associates. The memory
of these great Celtic pilgrims has never ceased to be held in
benediction by those countries which derived such blessings
from their toil, and their names, though too often forgotten in
the land of their birth, are encircled with glory in the pages of
the continental historians. Thus Baronius writes : " St. Colum-
ban came like another Elias to re-kindle the flame of piety and
learning in Gaul and Italy." And Ordericus Vitalis says :
"This father of admirable sanctity, Columban, was most
remarkable for his zeal. He was effulgent with glory among
nations, by his miracles and prodigies, and, inspired by God,
composed a religious rule which, for the first, he gave to
Gaul. Most renowned monks came forth from his school,
1 "Ex omnibus non solum Germaniae sed totius Europe partibus, £c." — Yepez-
Balther, in Vit. S. Fridolin.
2 Joan. Diac. Vita S. Greg. ii. 7.
The Festivities for the Popes Jubilee. 433
who, like the stars in the firmament, adorned the world by the
brilliancy of their virtues."
Ireland has at various epochs of her history received many
blessings from the continent of Europe, and her Celtic heart
never forgets such favours. Gaul gave to us one of its most
illustrious sons, St. Patrick, for our Apostle. Ireland repaid
the gift in St. Columban.
THE FESTIVITIES FOR THE POPE'S JUBILEE.—
IITH APRIL, 1 869.1
E have just returned from the Mass of Pope Pius the
Ninth, celebrated between eight and nine o'clock, a.m., on
Sunday the nth of April, 1869. This hour, this date — or
rather let us say this epoch — should be marked in Rubric in
the annals of the church, for never since our Divine Redeemer
instituted the sacrifice of the new law was it solemnized with
such a wonderful celebration. The Vicar of Jesus Christ
offered it, on the very tomb of his first predecessor, he, himself,
achieving half a century in the priestly office* ; round about
him was a congregation of temporal princes, and princes of
the church, mitred pastors, the inferior clergy, and a devout
assemblage of innumerable people. Never was such a crowd
seen at St. Peter's. Even the centre of the great nave, which
on similar occasions is kept clear by the soldiers that line it
on either side, was densly thronged, and the entire of that
greatest temple of the world formed one solid, united, compact
mass. He would not be far astray who would estimate at
one hundred thousand the number of the faithful who thronged
the Basilica, and the porticos and adjacent corridors, to assist
at the mass of Pius the Ninth. Those who remembered the
greatest throngs there, even since railways increased the faci-
lities for visiting Rome, confess that they never saw anything
like it before ; and we are among the witnesses.
And yet, anyone that could have swept with a glance the
horizon of the Catholic church, would have been forced to
acknowledge that the gathering at St. Peter's was but a hand-
ful of the faithful, in comparison with the multitude, which at
that same hour, in hundreds and thousands of temples, was
assembled to prayer, sacraments, and sacrifice, and surrounded
1 The substance of this article is from an able pen in the very estimable Roman
periodical, " La Civilta Cattolica," of 1 7th April, 1869.
434 The Festivities for the Pope's Jubilee.
in spirit the altar of Pius the Ninth. Wherever a cross lifts
its head (and where does it not ?), in that solemn hour prayer
was ascending, following the words of the universal chief
of prayer, sacrificing in the Vatican Basilica. Any one that
has a mind or heart knows full well that amid all the great-
nesses of this world, the moral ones reign supreme; and the first
of these and greatest is the universal congregation of the bap-
tized, on bended knees all over the earth ; their hands clasped,
and their foreheads bent low before the Host and the chalice
that are being elevated for their adoration by the hands of a
universal priest.
If any person would take the trouble to study this event,
and view it in its true light and its full comprehensiveness, he
would find that, in this festive celebration of the New Mass,
Christianity gave expression to a secret impulse of gratitude,
yielded to an irresistible desire of manifesting the purest love to-
wards an aged priest, who for fifty years has been offering sacri-
fice for the salvation of the world, towards the restorer of so
many moral ruins, and the architect of so many heirarchies ;
towards the teacher of so many truths proclaimed aloud, or
saved from error; towards him who crowned Mary Immaculate ;
the loving father inexhaustible in clemency and beneficence ;
the martyr whose long suffering has saddened every honest
heart ; the king " placed by God on Mount Sion," who never
came down amongst the mob to seek his crown, who never
recognized in other kings the right to question his title, never
renounced one single gem of his diadem, howsoever the as-
sembly of the wicked strove mightily with treachery and with
violence to wrest it from him, and was ever content to hold
his sceptre from a Divine constitution, repeating with a con-
stancy modelled after his Divine Master, Rex sum ego ! This
view may, perchance, seem strange, considering the peculiar cir-
cumstances of our days ; and yet this constancy of a royal
soul, buffeted in vain by so many tempests, assailed by so
many storms, and yet, never shaken, has not merely awakened
indescribable affection in the hearts of the faithful, but forced
even the profane to respect him. We know of a famous
heterodox diplomatist, who, having just come out from a
long ^ audience of this King of Rome, said with profound
emotion, "I thought there were no more kings in the
world, but I have found one." The regal majesty
which is conscious of itself, and is displayed without
ambition or false modesty, compels even the disaffected
to droop their eyes and bow their heads ; especially when
almost all the other social eminences, unsteady and uncer-
tain of themselves, are seen to go begging support from
The Festivities for the Pope's Jubilee. 435
the passions of the populace, and propping up their thrones
with the ebb and flow, of the yes or no of the ever restless
multitude. But, above all this, these festivities were intended
as a kind of reparation to the Vicar of Christ for the sacri-
legious outrages, with which the holiness of his divine re-
presentation was insulted. It was a protest on the part of
Catholic nations against the enmities, whether public or
private, cherished against the Papacy, and a thanksgiving
to God for having preserved in the midst of Rome the suc-
cessor of St. Peter. We do not intend to detail in these
pages this grand manifestation of Catholic love of which we
were eye-witnesses during these days. We will only attempt
to sketch rapidly, as we might say, the master lines, so that
and posterity may form some idea of it, if not adequate, at
least truthful. This Catholic love was manifested by gifts,
attestations of esteem and homage, and declarations of per-
sonal devotion and regard. These are unmistakable evidences
of a man's internal sentiments ; and they were these that gave
to this Christian festivity an aspect truly marvellous and
unique in history.
To begin with the gifts, already the undertaking seems
superior to our strength. If we ran our eye across the map
of the World, we should not know what nation to put a black
mark upon, as forgetful of assisting the Holy Father, who
wears the aureola of a king despoiled, like to the King whose
Vicar he is. The gifts come from the five Continents, and all
accompanied by affectionate addresses. In Europe, neither
Spain a prey to revolution, nor Poland persecuted, nor Ca-
tholic Russia in the midst of schismatics, nor Scandinavia,
nor Denmark crippled by intolerant laws, nor the Polar regions,
were found wanting to their ancient faith. Ireland, im-
poverished for three centuries by an oppression that is in-
credible (whilst we write God is perhaps drying up some of
her tears), united with wealthy England, to offer her tribute of
common devotion, nor suffered by the contrast. The first six
offerings amounted to near 11,000 francs. The Belgians and
the Dutch, inexhaustibly generous, appeared in the front rank,
as always. We remember to have written two years ago the
following words : — " There was a country governed by a Prince
sincerely devoted to the Roman Father, a land renowned for
its faith, rich in noble intellects and strong thoughts, peopled
by millions of Catholics with generous hearts and robust arms;
and yet it did not send as many sons Jto fight under the holy
standard, as did enslaved Italy. It was not its fault ; it was
the fault of the worst of tyrants — we mean liberty managed by
so-called Liberals. But now that nation is being aroused, and
436 The Festivities for the Popes Jubilee.
strives to shake off those ignominious chains, and perhaps
some day to our astonishment we shall find it at the head of the
crusaders of St. Peter." And behold, at this moment, Germany,
whether Austro- Hungarian, or Prussian, or any other indepen-
dent State, fulfils to the letter our not difficult prophecy. Pader-
born, Munster, Breslau, each sent 100,000 francs, the other dio-
ceses in proportion ; and with these other names, gathered by per-
haps 60 committees of the universities, seminaries, and lyceums,
and others beyond counting, obtained by the young mercantile
folk in several cities, and the working men's societies. Amongst
the donors in Germany we find one hundred princes and
barons, three names of the reigning House of Saxony — King
John, the heir-apparent Prince Albert, and his brother Prince
George. Royal gifts and congratulations were brought to
Rome by special ambassadors from the King of Prussia ; from
Austria and Hungary large sums of money and valuable pre-
sents ; and France, who is foremost in every generous under-
taking, could not hold a second place. The list of journals
that acknowledged subscriptions would fill a page. The
Univers alone, in about 60 days, received over 200,000 francs.
But the duty of becomingly celebrating this nth April more
specially devolved on Italy. Here Pius the Ninth was born,
here he celebrated his first mass, here he was consecrated
bishop, here he assumed the Pontifical tiara and the Papal
robes, here he ascended a throne the oldest in the world ; from
good Italians he had the heartiest applause and good
wishes, from bad Italians the most cruel persecutions. It
was but just that Italy should be conscious of her
only real and incontestible primacy, to which the Divine
Redeemer elected her, choosing her to be the see and court of
His Vicar ; and Italy was conscious of it. He would not be
far astray, who, counting the various presents, public and pri-
vate, the sterling coin and valuable objects of art, would
estimate the offerings from Italy to be over a million
francs. Considering the miserable condition of Italy at the
present moment, starving, wearied, and exhausted ; taxes
gone up to an incredible figure, whilst the sources of wealth
are dried up or impoverished : — this is the cry of pain that
is heard from the Alps to the Adriatic ; the collecting the
taxes fills the prisons with recusants, and recently disturbed
the country with riots, reprisals, and left hundreds of dead
and wounded ; so that we may well say that the Minister of
Finance is compelled to purchase money with blood, Con-
sidering all this, was it not wonderful that this nation, thus
impoverished, in a few weeks offers spontaneously such an
enormous sum as we have quoted above. This demonstration
The Festivities for the Popes Jubilee. 437
on the part of Italy will be a marvel to posterity, and
will serve to the present generation as a reparation for the
scandals of a few ; yes, a very few, and the worst of her
children, and prove that Italy still knows where her true
glory is to be found ; where the greatest of her princes dwells ;
where to turn her heart and find her Father.
In the immense variety of the presents and art treasures
offered from every country to Pius the Ninth, there was
manifested a desire to make the festival appear a family
fete, given by loving children to a loved father. Hence the
thought struck many of the donors to provide the Holy
Father with the necessary appointments for the celebration
of this his New Mass. The alb that he wore was sent from
the country of lace, and, according to experienced judges, was
of royal richness ; of chasubles, he had three presented by
the ladies of Lyons, Modena, and Aix-la-Chapelle, one more
beautiful than the other ; an immense number of stoles, pixes,
chalices, studded with precious stones, and chiselled in the
best taste ; amongst them was one deserving special men-
tion, of solid gold, covered with emeralds, rubies, sapphires,
and diamonds, offered in the name of the Senate and People
of Rome, designed by Duke D. Michelangelo Gaetani, and
executed by the celebrated jeweller, Castellani ; several pec-
toral crosses, reading desks, prie-dieus, missals ; and not even
the cruits, mass-belt, candles, and torches were forgotten ;
the love of the faithful thought of everything. Objects of
profane art were forwarded in great quantities ; statues and
statuettes in silver, marble, and bronze, candelabra, vases,
bronzes, paintings, and engravings, without end. We feel it
our duty to speak especially of the great chest from Turin,
which contained 60,000 francs in gold, most elaborately
wrought, and bearing two scriptural mottos : — " Tu es Pastor
Bonus," and "Revertetur homo ad possessionem suam.
. . . . quia jubilaeus est et quinquagesimus annus.'
The gold medallion sent by the English and Scotch clergy
was something stupendous. It was exquisitely chiselled, and
was valued at £500. It was the work of the much-lamented
French artist, Anthony Vechte, who' was considered to be almost
equal to Cellini. Dear to the Romans was the sight of twelve
pieces of artillery, from the Mazzocchi foundry, the contribu-
tion of the citizens. We also admired an immense canvass
which records the studies of German artists, reproducing the
Cathedral and City of Cologne, with the admired pencil of
Conrad ; and another, not less noticeable, representing the
Battle of Mentana, by the French artist, Lafont, which was
brought to the feet of the Holy Father by a select deputation
438 The Festivities for the Pope's Jubilee.
of three hundred ladies of every nation ; and lastly, the most
acceptable gift of all, a simple "Madonna del Buon Con-
siglio" beneath whose glance Pius the Ninth, then only the
deacon, John Mastai, received the unction of the priesthood,
this was the delicate thought of the Commendatore Sterbini.
Every branch of art in a word, concurred in doing honour to art's
best patron. Music, Painting, Poetry, all rivalled each other,
and Catholic journalism all over Europe, by the courageous and
manly share which it took in this great demonstration, went
far to redeem some of the abuses that flow to us from the
licentiousness of the press. And yet more numerous than
the hymns, inscriptions, etc., were the congratulations and
professions of filial love, that in our days are known by the
name of addresses. No one can form an adequate idea of
their number on this occasion. In Rome itself there was
not, perhaps, a single corporation, public or private, sacred
or profane, civil or military, that did not present its address.
In the Vatican there were mountains of them. The head
Chamberlain of His Holiness was solely occupied during
these days, as also all the other attaches of the Pontifical
Court, in receiving and presenting addresses* The Dioceses,
Canonical Chapters, Religious Orders, and their branches,
congregations, confraternities, institutes, benevolent societies,
universities, seminaries, schools, clubs of the aristocracy, and
commercial men, municipalities, mercantile bodies, and work-
ing-men's associations, all, and innumerable others, sent ad-
dresses. In short, the world was seen marshalling itself in
companies, all raising the one standard, that they might then
lower it in salutation before the Father of All.
This mere saluting from afar did not satisfy the devotion of
the faithful to the present occupant of St. Peter's chair ; the
vast majority was anxious to testify in person the feelings
which actuated them. Hence the immense number of pil-
grims, and the crowd of deputations and embassies, represent-
ing the multitudes that arrived every day in Rome. The
Roman Colleges opened the ball, as might be expected, and
first of all the Sacred College of Cardinals, then the Prelacy,
the Pontificial Household, the Ministers of State, the
Roman Senate and Civil magistracy, the Secular and Regular
Clergy. The army presented a unique appearance ; the so-
called mercenaries of the Pope prepared, with joy, conspicuous
sums of money to offer to the Holy Father ; and even those
mercenaries who serve for no payment but the honour of the
service, e.g., the Roman citizens who form the battalion
called^ the Palatine Guard, presented a magnificent purse,
well lined with some thousands in gold; the noble guard
The Festivities for the Pope's Jubilee. 439
contributed ; the fire brigade, and the regular army offered over
22,000 francs, not to count the enormous sums they expended
in decorating and illuminating their several barracks. O,
Roman Mercenaries ! Mercenaries of the whole world, you
are the flower of Christian chivalry. But Rome was not con-
tent with this representation, and the people, forming them-
selves into various groups, wished to be presented in an
extraordinary manner to their great Father. From morning
until night the halls of the Vatican were thronged by deputa-
tions that came and went. Now it was the nobility, now the
ladies, now the young girls, now the children, now the students
of the university, now those of the Roman college, now the
other universities, lyceums, institutes, associations, either con-
stituted or temporary, of every rank and condition, who had
formed their committees, their presidents, their collectors, and
addresses ; and all solicited the favour of a special audience.
Then succeeded the deputations from the Pontifical pro-
vinces and from all Christendom ; and with the deputations from
the several peoples, came the deputies of their monarchs, even
those who were not Catholics. For France there was the
Marquis de Bannville, Ambassador, and immediate dispatches
by telegraph between court and court ; for Austria the Am-
bassador Count de Trauttmansdorff, with an autograph letter
of his sovereign. A similar document from the King of the
Belgians was presented by his representative, Count Pyche de
Peteghem. The King of Bavaria sent letters by an Ambas-
sador Extraordinary, the Count D'Arco Palley. The King of
Prussia with letters sent a regal gift of porcelain from the
royal factory of Berlin, both being brought to Rome by a
special ambassador, the Duke de Hohenloe Ratibor. We
would wish to enumerate the august names who tendered their
courtesies on this occasion to the Priest-King, and yet it
is impossible for us to name them all. We cannot,
however, pass over in silence some chivalrous sovereigns of
Italy who personally tendered their congratulations to Pius
the Ninth. Francis the Second and Maria Sophia of the Two
Sicilies, the Princes of their Royal house, the Duke and
Duchess of Parma — but a few days before blessed as spouses
by the Pope. Don Alfonso di Borbone, infant of Spain and
an officer in the Papal Zouaves, brought the letters and pre-
sents of his uncle, the Duke of Modena. His royal brother,
Don Carlos, wrote a special letter to the Holy Father. To
these were united, by representatives and mostly by autograph
letters, the other sovereigns. The Queen of Spain and
the Prince of the Asturias, the Empress of Mexico, the
King and Queen of Portugal, the Emperor of Brazil, the
440 The Festivities for the Pope's Jubilee.
Republics of South America, and the present government of
Spain, with all the Ministers of the Executive, the Emperor
of Russia, whose son the Grand Duke Vladimir happened to
be in Rome ; the Kings of Saxony, Holland, Wurtemburg,
Hanover, and the Queen of England, the Prince of Monaco,
and the Grand Dukes of Tuscany and Mecklenburgh
Strelitz.
What appeared singular and almost strange in this "fete de
famille" was, that instead of being located in Rome, Rome
was but the centre. Whilst those present in Rome ascended
the steps of St. Peter's, the absent accompanied them in spirit
To mention Italy alone, in Sicily priests and people united in
greater numbers than ever to celebrate publicly this event. In
Naples, the Cardinal Archbishop pontificated at theGesu Nuovo.
in the midst of an immense crowd. From Florence, the capital,
if not of Italy, at least of a government, the only government
in the world that sent no message to Rome, an illustrious
publisher writes to us on this date, "Day of the Fiftieth Anni-
versary of the first Mass of his Holiness!' that he visited almost
all the churches in the early hours of the day, and found them
filled with devout congregations, and officiated worthily. It
was estimated that in Florence alone, over 12,000 people ap-
proached the sacraments. Around Florence, at San Miniato,
Prato, Pistoia, Pisa, Arezzo, and Siena, there were grand fes-
tivities, and the Tuscan hills at night time were illuminated
with immense bonfires, reflecting the words "Feast of the Pope."
At Turin, Genoa, Venice, Palermo, Naples, Milan, Parma,
Modena, Lucca, and all the cities and towns of Italy, the same
fervour was conspicuous. Genoa distinguished itself; from
her came the invitation for special prayers, and all Rome
went to see and admire the rare fresh flowers, with the name
of Genoa side by side with that of the Holy Father, the colos-
sal gift of Marquis Pallavicino, and forwarded in royal state
by a special train, to adorn the statue of St. Peter in the
Basilica. These signs of the times in Italy have ten times the
value they have in other places where there is liberty, especi-
ally when accompanied by innumerable communions. This
Roman festival found an echo in every part of the globe no
less than in Italy. From both Americas, from Africa and
Asia, the same intelligence has arrived. In Europe no
country remained indifferent ; from distant Finland a telegram
to the Holy Father announced, " We have celebrated a great
solemnity, and offered a general communion" Russia, Norway,
Portugal, Greece, and Turkey were up and stirring; and even
poor Spain, amidst all her tribulation, she did not forget this
day of rejoicing for the Holy Father. Ail the bells along the
The Festivities far the Popes Jubilee. 441
Swiss mountains rang out a merry peal ; Geneva remembered
that she was the city of St. Peter, and not the Babel of Calvin.
In England, the archbishop of Westminster assembled an
immense crowd in London to join in the sacred func-
tionary. In the Island of St. Patrick, besides the universal
celebration in every diocese, the Catholic University of Dublin
sent an address, in which we read — " Verbis sancti Columbani
nostri, te salutamus ut omnium ecclesiarum in toto urbe ex-
istentium praesulem, ut pastorum pastorem, ut navis spiri-
tualis, quae est Ecclesia Dei, magistrum et gubernatorum."
Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, all were in jubilee, so
that we may describe it as an immense concert, unforeseen, of
prayer to God and devotion to the Pontiff, occupying the whole
earth, and going up from earth to heaven, bringing as it were
in one cloud, thanksgivings, vows, supplications, hopes, and
good omens for the future. May God hear the prayers of his
people ! It is evident that, compared with this world-wide
festivity, the celebration within the walls of Rome must appear
small ; but we must remember Rome was the centre, and the
globe, the circumference ; and the centre is the master point
which governs the circle of any length of radius. We don't
mean to note down every little incident of these memorable
days in Rome. The first demonstration was the triduum of
thanksgiving, celebrated in the Lateran Basilica the " mater et
caput ecclesiarum urbis et orbis" It closed on the loth of
April ; the Pope was present, and the Ambrosian Hymn in-
toned by the singers was caught up by the people,
and sung with an enthusiasm that was unbounded. It
was an overpowering impulse to bless God that seized
upon the multitude ; but it was on the following day
when the Holy Father himself, with that clear, sonorous,
impressive voice of his, intoned it in St. Peter's after his Mass,
that it thundered through the immense Basilica from a hun-
dred thousand throats with an effect that is almost indescri-
bable. Finally came the great day itself — the anniversary
day — the loth of April. It engrossed the attention of every
one. It was celebrated in the Palace of Prince Philip Andrew
Doria, where Pius the Ninth was ordained priest; it was
celebrated at Tata Giovanni, where he offered his first Mass ;
it was celebrated in every church in Rome by the love of
the clergy, and the devotion of the laity, the former offering
their Mass for the Pope, the latter crowding round the altar
rails with the same intention. But above all, it was cele-
brated in the great Basilica of the Vatican, where Pius the
Ninth himself ascended the altar over the confession of St.
Peter, paused for a considerable time at the Memento for
442 The Festivities for the Pope's Jubilee.
the living, and with his own hand dispensed the Divine Eu-
charistic bread to about two hundred of the faithful from amidst
the thousands and thousands that desired such a grace. One
may be an eye-witness of such a sight, and see the greatest
temple of the world, from the apse to the vestibule, densely
thronged with such a multitude as was never before seen,
all recollected and rivetted on Pius the Ninth, raised on high
the principal figure of the group, and offering up the Imma-
culate Lamb of God ; but to describe the heavenly influence
that seizes on a man at such an instant, and hurries him
out of himself, is impossible.
In the afternoon the Holy Father received in a general
audience the deputies from all nations. They assembled in the
large hall over the portico of St. Peter's, to the number of four
thousand. The Pope seeing such an immense and varied as-
semblage, accepted the addresses, and spoke to them with that
sweet inspired majesty with which he is wont to electrify such
assemblies, and to which there is no replying except by un-
controllable outbursts of applause, and often times with tears.
On the Piazza in front, three times in succession, the hymn of
the day, specially set to music by the celebrated Gounod, was
performed by seven military, bands, and a thousand picked
voices. At the instance of several influential personages, the
Pope came out on the balcony, and was saluted by deafening
rounds of cheers, waving of hats and handkerchiefs, again and
again repeated. He stayed a while to hear the music, and
then having given his blessing retired, amidst new acclamations.
Another hymn, put to music by the Maestro Rosati, was sung
by 1 50 voices of young gentlemen in the presence of the Pontiff ;
and the halls of the capitol afforded a magnificent musical
treat, given by the Academy of St. Cecilia. The fireworks
(known as the Girandold) from St. Pietro, in Montorio, proved
a great success, and thus ended this wonderful day.
The Holy Father received several other deputations, and
had a kind word for all. He playfully remarked to one of his
Chamberlains, "They have made me preach a Lent during
these days, and I feel all the better of it."
There was one special feature in this demonstration which
gave it the peculiar characteristic of a family festival, I mean
the presents from the provinces and towns of the present
Papal States. Romans and strangers flocked in crowds to
the Cortile of San Damaso, where their patriarchal gifts
were arranged for public inspection by the architect Martin-
ucci. Every town sent specimens of that particular kind of
produce for which it had become famous. Ronciglione its
wax, Nepi its linen, Bassanello its pottery, Soriano its house
The Festivities for the Pope's Jubilee. 443
linen and lace, Guercino its paper, Cori its tobacco, Velletri
its famous wines, Corneto its Etruscan vases ; in fine, oil,
wine, corn, and every kind of manufactured goods came pour-
ing in to the Vatican, the spontaneous offerings of the Pope's
loyal and loving subjects. The immense butt of wine from
Monte Rotondo that escaped the Garibaldian marauders was
an object of universal admiration.
This butt of wine was a solitary one that escaped the lawless-
ness of the Garibaldian banditti in their inroad of 1867, and
now, as if triumphant in its unshaken fealty, it bore the loyal
inscription : " Monte Rotondo offers this to its Pontiff and
King ;" and underneath was added the acclaim, " ad multos
annas' This gift was accompanied with a request that the
wine should be used by his Holiness at the altar, and the
prayer was added that he might live beyond the years of
Peter till the whole butt should be consumed.
Our limits will not allow us to mention in detail all the towns
that thus offered special tributes of their homage. We will
only add that Tusculum, mindful of its ancient glories, sent a
rich gift of oil and wine, whilst Bracciano selected for its motto
the Scripture text, " Butyrum et met comede" Mentana was
not forgetful of the memorable 5th of November, which saw
the enemies of Rome flying in confusion from its walls, and
the standard of Pio Nono unfurled on its battlements — hence its
unpretending, but substantial, gift of corn was decked with the
laurel crowns of victory.
As St. Peter's claimed the presence of the Pontiff in un-
rivalled pomp and splendour, on the morning of the nth
of April, Pio Nono wished on the following morning to fol-
low the dictates of his own private devotion, and resolved to
offer up the Holy Sacrifice on the same humble altar which
fifty years before had witnessed his first ministry. Then
surrounded by his cherished flock, the poor orphans, who
were his earliest sacerdotal charge, he discharged all the
duties of the Good Shepherd, and experienced the sweet con-
solations which heaven alone imparts.
We will say nothing of the brilliant review, by which Ge-
neral Kanzler and his brave troops shared in the common joy;
or of the illuminations, which seemed to change night to day,
or rather to make the darkness of night contribute to the
feast, and set forth in bolder relief the sweet expressions of
universal delight. The present age has often appealed to uni-
versal suffrage, and is proud of the trophies which it has won ;
but never was a suffrage so marked, so decisive, so universal,
as that which, on .the nth of April, was laid at the feet of
our immortal Pontiff. Solemn was the verdict of Mentana,
Decree of the S. Congregation of Rites.
asserting the inviolability of the seven hills, but far more
decisive in the united voices of the three hundred thousand
citizens of Rome, and of the hundred millions of Catholics
throughout the world, was the verdict of the JUBILEE OF
Pius THE NINTH.
DECREES OF THE S. CONGREGATION OF RITES.
The following three Decrees, which illustrate some of the
most important questions of ritual, have been just published : —
I.
Magister Coeremoniarum Ecclesiae Cathedralis Malacitanae
a Sacra Rituum Congregatione humillime insequentium Du-
biorum solutionem exquisivit, nimirum :
I. Utrum Concionator petere debeat Benedictionem a Ce-
lebrante intra Missam in Feriis Quadragesimae, aut non ;
siquidem non constat ex Coeremoniali Episcoporum cum sit
usu et consuetudine receptum, ut non petatur Benedictio
intra Missam in Feria IV. Cinerum, nisi a presente proprio
Episcopo ?
II. Utrum Ministri Sacri uti possint Dalmaticis in Domi-
nicis Adventus et Quadragesimae in Ecclesiis ubi exponi-
tur Sanctissimum Eucharistiae Sacramentum ad fidelium
venerationem, ut lucrentur lubilaeum, qui dicitur Quadraginta
Horarum ?
S. C. rescripsit, Negative. Atque ita rescripsit et servari
mandavit. Die 31 Augusti 1867.
II.
Exorta controversia inter nonnullos Canonicos Metropo-
litanae Ecclesiae Sancti lacobi de Chile : an usus in eadem
Civitate adhibendi ampullas auro vel argento elaboratas
tolerandus esset : ad rem dirimendam Sacrorum Rituum
Congregation! sequentia duo Dubia proposita fuerunt, ni-
mirum :
I. An uti liceat in Missae sacrificio ampullis aureis vel
argenteis ? Et quatenus negative.
II. An consuetude quae invaluit, prorsus improbanda sit in
casu ?
S. Cong, respondendum censuit : Tollerandam esse con-
suetudinem. Die 28 Aprilis 1866.
Riibrieal Questions, 445
III.
Rtnus Dominus Raphael Valentino Valdivieso Archiepis-
.copus sancti lacobi de Chile exponens in Ecclesiis suae
Archidioeceseos usum ab antique tempore vigere non coope-
riendi Conopeo Tabernaculum, in quo asservatur SSmum
Eucharistiae Sacramentum, sed intus tantum velo pulchriori
serico, saepe etiam argento et auro intexto, ornari, a S. R. C.
humillime declarari petiit: num talis usus tolerandus sit vel
potius exigendum, ut Conopeum ultra praedictum velum, vel
sine eo, apponatur iuxta praescriptum in Rituali Romano ? S.
Congregatio, respondendum censuit : Usum veil praedicti
tolerari posse sed Tabernaculum tegendum esse Conopeo iuxta
praescriptum Ritualis Romani.
Atque ita respondit, et servari mandavit Die 28 Aprilis
1866.
RUBRICAL QUESTIONS.
"TO THE EDITOR OF 'THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.*
"DEAR SIR — With reference to the text of the 'Encyclical,
published in your last number, I find a diversity of opinion
exists as to the exact meaning of the words (p. ^^},prcscipimus
quotidie addi in Missa orationem de Spiritu Sancto.
"The questions, then, which your correspondent respectfully
desires a solution of, are,
" ist — Does this precept, for the time, set aside the decrees of
the Sacred Congregation of 1819 and 1835, which forbid the
the prayer of the Superior to be added on doubles of \hzfirst
class?
"2nd — Does it also set aside the direction of the Missal where
it says, hcec unica oratio dicatur, on certain days ?
"3rd — Does it interfere with the usual prohibition to add
any prayer for the living in Missis Defunctorum ?
"Hoping that your next number will contain the answers to
these doubts, as they are of immediate practical importance
to all your clerical readers who do not happen to have the ne-
cessary authorities at hand for arriving at the correct decision,
" I am, dear Mr. Editor,
" Your very obedient,
"May is/fc, 1869." "J. C
We are happy to be able to inform our respected corres-
pondent that the Decrees of the Sacred Congregation, and
the usual ritual order of prayers are not interfered with in
446 • Documents.
any way by the recent Encyclical of his Holiness. The Holy
Father, by the same authority which gives force and efficacy
to these decrees and ritual regulations, can, when he pleases,
make such changes as the necessities of the times may require ;
but when he does not express his intention of doing so, the
ordinary decrees and the usual prescribed ritual must be
observed.
DOCUMENTS.
I.— LETTER OF OUR MOST HOLY FATHER TO THE
SUPERIORS AND STUDENTS OF THE DIOCESAN COLLEGE
OF HOLY CROSS, IN ANSWER TO THE ADDRESS WHICH
WAS PRESENTED TO HIS HOLINESS, TOGETHER WITH
THE MUNIFICENT OFFERING OF £lOO, ON THE OCCASION
OF HIS LATE JUBILEE.
PIUS PAPA IX., DILECTI FILII, SALUTEM ET APOSTOLICAM
BENEDICTIONEM.
Eximium filialis animi testimonium Nobis praebuerunt
vestrse litterse, quibus Nobiscum laetantes de quinquagesimo
anniversario die a primo sacerdotali sacro quod obtulimus,
vestras Nobis gratulationes et observantiam expromitis.
Hujusmodi autem officio eae insuper accedunt pietatis signifi-
cationes quae illi majus pretium splendoremque conciliant. Id
enim ostendunt prseclari Religionis sensus, quibus Vos ani-
matos esse conspicimus, devotio ilia ac obsequium quod erga
Nos et hanc Petri Cathedram luculenter exhibetis, necnon
illud caritatis filialis studium, quo divinae Nobis clementiae
opem vestris votis implorare non omittitis. Nos certe non
levem animo consolationem ex hac vestra pietate percepimus,
non modo quod hac ratione veros Ecclesiae filios Vos esse
ostenditis, sed etiam quod Ecclesiae filiorum virtus ad sanctis-
simae nostrae Religionis utilitatem et fructum hoc maxime
tempore inanis esse non potest. Dum itaque Vobis, dilecti
Filii, paterni animi Nostri caritatem profitemur, ipsum bono-
rum omnium largitorem Deum enixe obsecramus ut in vobis
suae bonitatis munera propitius tueatur atque in omnibus
diebus vitae vestrae yobis fausta quaeque et salutaria et
uberem in omni justitia ac virtute profectum sua miseratione
concedat. Cum autem pias Nobis oblationes, Dilecti Filii,
hac occasione deferri curaveritis, pro hujusmodi vestrae pieta-
tis pignore gratissimam Nostram voluntatem Vobis ultro
testamur. Omnium autem ccelestium munerum auspicem et
praecipuae Nostrae erga Vos benevolentiae testem Apostolicam
Documents, 447
Benedictionem Vobis, Dilecti Filii, toto cordis affectu pera-
manter impertimus.
Datum Romse apud S. Petrum,
Die 29 Aprilis, anno 1869.
Pontificatus Nostri anno Vicesimotertio.
Pius PAPA IX.
Dilectis Filiis Moderatoribus et Alumnis Seminarii Dublin-
ensis S. Crucis, Dublinum.
II.— LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS TO THE SUPE-
RIORS AND STUDENTS OF THE FRENCH COL-
LEGE, BLACKROCK.
PIUS PAPA IX.
Dilecti Filii, Salutem et Apostolicam Benedictionem. Ob-
servantissimas vestras accepimus Litteras, quas gratulationis
officii pietatis causa ad Nos mittendas curastis, cum quinqua-
gesimi anniversarii diei a primo sacerdotali sacro oblato,
divina benignitate annuente, sollemnia essemus acturi. Si
nihil gratius et acceptius Paternae Nostrae Caritati esse
potest quam filiorum observantia, laetitia et studia, quae ex
intimo animo profecta esse dignoscuntur, intelligitis profecto,
Dilecti Filii, quantopere animorum vestrorum significationes
hac occasione editae Nobis gratae et acceptae esse debue-
rint. Laetatienim sumus, earn in vobis venerationem et ob-
sequium erga Nos et hanc Apostolicam Sedem perspicientes,
quod Catholicae Ecclesiae filios omnino decet, et gratissima
habuimus votorum ac precationum vestrarum officia pro Nobis
et Ecclesiae Sanctae causa libenter impensa, quibus nihil op-
portunius apud Divinam Clementiam, hisce praesertim asper-
rimis temporibus, nihil ad spem ccelestia praesidia assequendi
firmius, et validius esse existimamus. Vobis itaque, Dilecti
Filii, gratissimos animi Nostri sensus paterno cum affectu
profitemur, ac Deum Optimum Maximum suppliciter et enixe
adprecamur, ut in divitiis misericordiae suae vestram pie-
tatem uberibus divinae suae gratiae et bonitatis fructibus
remuneretur. Debitas vero agimus grates pro munere, quod
Nobis misistis. Dum autem confidimus nunquam Nobis, et
Ecclesiae Sanctae curis Nostris commissae, vestras preces
defuturas, Ccelestium omnium munerum auspicem et paternae
Nostrae erga vos benevolentiae testem, Apostolicam Benedic-
tionem, vobis, Dilecti Filii, toto cordis affectu peramanter im-
pertimus.
Datum Romae, apud S. Petrum die 15 Aprilis, Anno 1869.
Pontificatus Nostri Vicesimotertio.
PIUS P.P. IX.
Dilectis filih^ Rectori, Magistris Scholasticis
et Ahimnis Gymnasii Gallici, Dublimnn
in Hibernia,
448
MONASTICON HIBERNICUM;
OR,
A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT
MONASTERIES OF IRELAND.
[N.B. — The text of the " Monasticon" is taken verbatim from Archdall: the notes
marked with numbers are added by the Editors. J
COUNTY OF ARMAGH.
year, or in 457, for Regular Canons of the order of St. Augus-
tin, and dedicated it to the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul;**
*Usher, Trias Tk'. p. 293.
Continuation of Note 3, from page 396.)
" After this Daire came that he might do honour to the saint, and brought with
him a valuable imported cauldron which held three firkins. And Daire said to the
saint, thou mayest have this cauldron. And Patrick said, Grazacham (i. e. , gratias, ago
or again}. Then Daire returned home and said, the man is a fool, who had not a civil
word to say but Grazacham, in return for the beautiful three-firkin cauldron. More-
over, Daire said to his servants, go and bring me back my cauldron. So they came and
said to Patrick, we must take away the cauldron. Notwithstanding, on this occasion
also, Patrick said, Grazacham; you may take it away. So they took it away. And
Daire enquired of his servants what the Christian said when they took back the
cauldron, and they replied: he said Grazacham. Then Daire answered and said:
Grazacham when we give, and Grazacham when we take away; surely this Graza-
cham of his must be a good word; therefore, the brazen cauldron shall be restored
to him. And this time Daire came in person, carrying the cauldron to Patrick,
and said to him, thy cauldron shall remain with thee, for thou art an upright and
unswerving man. Moreover, I now grant to thee my whole right in that portion
of ground which thou formerly didst desire, and dwell thou there. And that is
the city which now is called Arddmacha. And they went forth together, both St.
Patrick and Daire, to view the admirable and pleasing gift; anc\ they ascended the
height, and found a roe and a little fawn with her, lying on the spot where the
altar of the northern church in Arddmacha now stands. And St. Patrick's com-
panions wanted to catch the fawn and kill it; but the saint objected, and would not
permit them; nay, he even took up the fawn himself, and carried it on his
shoulders, and the roe followed him like a pet sheep, until he laid the fawn on
another eminence, at the north side of Armagh, where, according to the statement
of those who are familiar with the ground, miraculous attestations are to be wit-
nessed at this day."— " Book of Armagh" (fol. 6 b, b).
Having thus, at length, obtained from Daire the Druim-sailech, which had
been before refused to him, St. Patrick proceeded to build upon it. According
to the "Tripartite Life," our apostle, with his religious community and Daire, went
up the hill to measure it for the building and to consecrate it. " The apex of the
hill being probably enclored with an earthen rampart, and the slope having like-
wise two entrenched defences, we can conceive a little monastic group of buildings
occupying the level space, consisting of a larger and smaller church, the latter,
which was called the Sabhal, or northern church, situate on the north side, and such
conventual buildings as were usual, consisting of a Techmor ('great house'), or
residence; a Cuicin, or 'kitchen;' an Airegal, or ' sacristy, ' while the space on
the south side of the great church was devoted to a Rdlig, or 'cemetery.' Such
was the amount of the primitive establishment. . . The town of Ardmagh con-
sisted, at an early date, of two main departments, the Rath, which was the nucleus,
and the Tnans or wards, which were three in number, and formed the outer belt of
County of Armagh. 449
it continued, for many ages, one of the flrrost celebrated eccle-
siastical foundations in the world.
habitation. It would be almost impossible, at the present day, to define the
Rath or central enclosure with exactness ; but we may take the outline communi-
cated to Stuart, and printed by him in his appendix, p. 588. According to it the
upper enclosure or entrenchment, commencing on the west, observed pretty
much the course of Callan-street, the circle being continued across Abbey-street,
a little below the Infirmary, and through the Gardens, round to Market-street.
The lower enclosure leaves still a trace where it crossed Abbey-street, at the
Wesleyan Chapel." — Reeves (op. cit. p. 13, 14).
The edifices within the upper ring were: —
1. The Damhliaec (pronounced Duleek) Mor, or Great Stone Church, probably
occupying part of the present cathedral. It is known by this name in the "Annals,"
A.D. 839. "Ardmacha, with its oratories and great church, burned by the Danes of
Lough Neagh. " Under the years 890 and 907, it is called the church (Ecclais). In 995
it was burned, and remained a ruins for one hundred and thirty years, until 1 125, when
Cellach, or Celsus, new-roofed it. In 1268, Primate Maelpatrick O'Scannail com-
menced the Tempull Mor, or Great Church of Armagh, which after repeated changes
is now represented by the cathedral, and which since the so-called Reformation has
been occupied by the Protestants. The new Catholic cathedral, crowning the opposite
hill, stands in its superior size and beauty as a type of the second glory
of the Catholic church in Ireland. " Great shall be the glory of this last house,
more than of the first, and in this place I will give peace, said the Lord of Hosts "
— Ag. 2, 10.
2. The Round Tower, or Cloictech. This was situated probably about forty feet
from the north-west angle. There may have been more than one of these edifices
at Armagh. Under the date A.D. 995, it is related that the "bell towers," were
struck by lightning. In 1020 the Cloictech, with its bells, were consumed in
the great fire. . . The "Four Masters" state that at 1121, "A great wind knocked
off the cover of the Cloictech." After this we have no account of the Round
Tower.
3. The Sabhall or Barn. This church, from its position, is styled in the "Book
of Armagh" Sinistralis, or the northern church, and probably owes its name, as
does Sabhall Patraic, or Saul, to its unusual bearing, north and south. Here, as
early as 750, the "Book of Armagh" declares that "the virgins, and penitents, and
married attendants of the church were wont to hear the word of preaching on the
Lord's Day." It is referred to in the "Annals" of ion. The site cannot now be
determined; but Dr. Reeves supposes it to have stood near the extremity of the
north transept of the present cathedral.
4. Duleek Toga, or Stone Church of the Elections, stood on the south side of the
cathedral. The site is doubtful.
5. Teach Screaptra, or House of Writings, was the only building within the rath
which escaped the great fire of 1020.
6. The Abbofs House was within the rath, and anciently stood within a rampart
of its own. It is mentioned in the "Annals of Ulster" at 822, at 915, and at 1 1 16, m
which year the Teach n Abhadh Mor, or Great House of the Abbot, and twenty
houses about it, were burnt at the beginning of Lent. After it was rebuilt Cardinal
Paparo passed a week here in 1151, in company with Gelasius, the successor of
St. Patrick.
7. The Cuicin, or Kitchen, was consumed by the fire of 915.
8. The Prison, Dr. Petrie (Round Towers, p. 104) quotes from the "Leabhar-
na-n-Uidre," the Yellow Book, which disappeared from the Carcar at Armagh.
9. The Conventual buildings were surrounded by a Fidh-nemhedh, or Sacred
dove, which is mentioned in the Irish of the "Tripartite Life," and is stated in
"Annals" to have been consumed in the fire of 995.
10. The Reilig, or "Cemetery," at first was at the south of the church; in after
time it extended all round. A portion was set apart for royal interments, like that
in the Relig Oran of lona. It was called Cemeterium Regum, and kings of Ailech
were interred here in 934, 1064, and 1149. Here,, it is probable, the remains of
Brian Bom were deposited in 1014.
450 Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
513. Died the abbot St. Duach,4 or Dubthach ; he was
succeeded by Alell, called also Alild, or Helias ; he is par-
ticularly stiled bishop, and was son of Triches, and grandson
of Fiege, of the most noble family of the Dalfiatacii ;5 he
laudably 'presided over his flock for the space of thirteen years,
and was succeeded by one of the same name and family/
535. Died the last abbot Alild ; he was succeeded by a
second St. Duach.8
548. Died the abbot St. Duach.*
578. The abbot St. Fethlin,6 who was surnamed Fionn, or
the White, died this year.u
593. Died St. Eochod,7 the son of Dermit; he was stiled
both abbot and bishop.w
610. The abbot St. Senach8 died, and was succeeded by St.
M(Lasre.x
623. Died St. M'Lasre/ 9
657. Died the abbot and bishop Comyn.25
661. January the loth, died St. Thomian ;10he was abbot and
bishop.a
*& Flaherty's Cat. Mss. in Tr. Th. *Act. SS. p. 61. * Id. * Id. p. 744.
^OFlah. supra, and Act. SS. p. 193. *Act. SS. p. 193. *Id.p. 53. WGeog.
*&Flah. sup. Act. SS. p. 53.
11. The Culdees1 House was originally inside the rath. We will speak of i*
under its proper heading.
12. The Lis Aeidkedh or "Fort of Guesfs" is mentioned in the "Annals" at
1003, 1015, 1115, 1155. It is doubtful whether it was inside the rath.
13. The Gate, or entrance to the rath, is mentioned in the "Annals" at 1121,
1 1 66. A cross stood outside it. Dr. Reeves assigns the situation of this to the
top of Market-street, where is the eastern entrance of the cathedral premises.
In 1561, according to the "Four Masters," the Lord Deputy, Sussex, erected
strong raths and impregnable ramparts round the great church of Armagh.
4 St. Dubtach succeeded Cormac in the See of Armagh, in 497. The "Four
Masters" place his death in 512. He was from Druim-Dearbh, probably the present
Derver, or Darver, in the county of Louth.
0 Dal-Fiatach, i.e., the tribe of Fiatach. This warlike tribe was seated in the
present county of Down. The "Mart, of Donegal," at I3th Jan., has "Ailell,
bishop of Ardmacha, A.D. 525."
6 This St. Feidhlimidh Finn is set down as Primate in the list from the " Psalter
of Cashel."— See "Tr. Th." p. 292.
7 There are many saints of this name venerated Jan. I, 25, 28; April 17.
Colgan (Tr. Th.) refers this saint to Jan. I.
8 St. Senach is omitted by Colgan, in his dissertation, " De Hibernioe Primatibus ;"
but he is given in the "Psalter of Cashel." Usher makes him the last of the
third order of holy bishops dignified by the name of saints.
9 Mac-Laisre, that is, the son of Laisir. Ware and Colgan think that he is the
person called "Terenannus Archipontifex Hibernise, " in the "Life of St. Laurence,
Archbishop of Canterbury," by John of Tynmouth. St. Laurence was made
Archbishop of Canterbury in 611. His feast is celebrated, according to the
"Martyrology of Donegal," on the 1 7th September : "Mac Laisre, bishop and
abbot of Ard-Macha, A. D. 662. I think it is he that is of the race of Eoghan,
son of Niall, or, it may be, he is of the race of Corbmac Cas, son of Oilioll Glum. "
10 St. Thomian (Tomyn, Tomene, or Toimen) Mac-Ronan succeeded in
623. He was the most learned of his countrymen, in an age most fruitful of
learned men. The "Martyrology of Donegal " refers his feast to loth January.
County of A rmagh. 45 1
670. This year the town was consumed by an accidental
fire.b
687. Another conflagration happened.0
695. A synod, consisting of forty-one prelates, was held at
Armagh this year.d
703. Died the abbot Congussa.6
705. Died the abbot St. Flann, or Florence Febhla;11 he
was the son of Scanlan.f
720. In this year, or in 724, died St. Colman Huamacensis,12
the learned scribe of Armagh, and one of the biographers of
St. Patrick.*
725. Died St. Eochad, the son of Colgan, an holy anacho-
rite.h
727. Died St. Ferdomnach, or Dominic, scribe of Armagh
. SS. p. 294. *Id. AId. ft. 473. *Ann. InisfaL f VFlah. Act. SS. p. 294.
l. Ulton. h7>. Th. p. 294.
The "Annals of Ulster" have, A.D. 660, "Tommene, Episcopus Ardmachse,
clefunctus est." The "Four Masters," at the same year, have, "St. Tomene, son of
Ronan, Bishop of Ardmacha, died. " One of the most important ecclesiastical ques-
tions that occupied the attention of the early Irish bishops occurred during the ponti-
ficate of St. Thomian. The Paschal controversy then agitated the entire island. The
Synod of Magh-lene (A. D. 630) in which the Bishops of Leinster and Munster were
assembled, under the influence of St. Cummian, decided that the Roman usage
should be their guide ; and Ven. Bede mentions that, in 635, the Southern Irish,
"at the admonition of the bishop of the Apostolic See," had already conformed to
the Roman rite. Not so, however, the Northerns. St. Thomian, in order to
secure uniformity, addressed, in conjunction with the Northern bishops and abbots,
a letter to Pope Severinus, in 640. When their letter reached Rome, the Apostolic
See was vacant, and the reply which came was written, as usual in such cases, by
the Roman clergy. This fact is an admirable example of the fidelity with which
the early Irish Church adhered to the statute of St. Patrick in the "Book of
Armagh," that difficult cases should be sent "to the Apostolic See, that is to say,
to the chair of the Apostle Peter, which holds the authority of the city of Rome."
11 Flann, or Florence Febhla, succeeded, in the See of Armagh, Segene, who was
successor to St. Thomain. Segene died in 687 or 688. St. Flann-Febhla held the
Synod mentioned in the text under the year 695, but it cannot be stated with any
certainty where it was held. Colgan (Tr. Th. p. 503 a] conjectures that it was
held at Deny or Raphoe; others place it at Tara; others at Leitir, near Birr, on
the confines of ancient Heath and Munster. A copy of the acts of this Synod,
with the subscriptions of the assembled fathers, was in Colgan's possession, and is
still preserved at Brussels Burgundian Library, No. 2324. Colgan states that these
acts were called Cain Adhamnain, or the Canons of Adamnan, from the illustrious
St. Adamnan, who was present at the council. They are supposed by some to be the
same eight canons called after St. Adamnan, published by Martene (Thesaur. Nov.
Anecd. torn, iv., col. 18), and which are also in a MS. in Marsh's Library,
Dublin, called "Precedents of the See of Armagh," p. 395. Among those present
at this Synod, Colgan mentions the following: — I. Aidus, Episcopus Sleptiensis.
2. Colga, films Moenaigh, abbas Luscanensis. 3. Mosacer, abbas. 4. Killenus,
filius Subnei, abbas Sagirensis. 5. Mochonna, Antistes Dorensis. 6. Ecbertus
Anglus. This latter was probably the priest who, according to Ven. Bede, in
Hibernia diutius exulaverat pro Ckristo, and through whose means the monks
at Hy conformed to Roman Easter and Tonsure in 716. Among the other names
in the acts of Adamnan's Synod is that of Murchu Mac-U-Macteni, the writer of
a portion of St. Patrick's Memoirs in the "Book of Armagh."
"Mentioned in the "Vita Tripart.," part I, sub 'fine.
452
Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
The same year St. Dochuma Bolgan, an holy anachorite,
729. Flathbert, son of Loingseach, in the 7th year of his
reign, abdicated the throne of Ireland, and became a monk in
this abbey, where he died in the year 760.*
749. Died Congus,13 alias Oengus, a learned scribe.1
758. St. Feardachrich, the son of Subney, was elected
abbot ;m he died in the year 768.n
778. On Saturday, the 2nd day of August, the town was
totally consumed by lightning.0
791. Died the abbot Cudiniscus, the son of ConasacjP as
also Eochod, the oeconomist ; he was son of Kiernach.q
793. Died the abbot Dubdaleath, the son of Sinach.r
794. Aphiat,14 the :bishop, and Arectach Hua Foelain, the
abbot of Armagh, died in the same night.8
795. Died the abbot Foendelach, the son of Moenach ; he
had had a contention first with Dubdaleath, and afterwards
with Gormgal15 for the dignity.*
799. St. Fothad,16 a doctor of this abbey, and celebrated
for his piety and his writings, flourished about this time.u
1 Id. p. 632. *Id. lld.p. 632. m7V. Th. p. 294. ^VFlah. supr. ° Id. Tr.
Th.p. 294. rid. *Id. *&Flah.supr.id. *Id. *Id. *Id.
1B Under the year 733, the "Four Masters" have this: — "Congus, successor of
Patrick, composed this quatrain, to incite Aedh Allan to revenge the profanation
of the church, for he was the spiritual adviser (amnchara) of Aedh, so that he said:
Say unto the cold Aedh Allan, that I have been oppressed by a feeble army;
Aedh Roin insulted me last night at Cill-Cunna, of the sweet music.
Aedh Allan collected his forces to Faughart, and, on his march to battle, com-
posed these verses: —
For Cill-Cunna, the church of my confessor, I take this day a
Journey on the road," &c.
14 The list of the Archbishops of Armagh, in the "Psalter of Cashel," omits
Affiath, and gives Aircachtach as archbishop for one year.
15 The succession of the Archbishops of Armagh about this period is involved in
great confusion. Gormghal is not mentioned in list in the " Psalter of Cashel," of
which the fragment is preserved in the Bodleian Library.
^The "Four Masters" preserve (799) one of the compositions of St. Fothad,
which was composed under the following circumstances: — "King Aedh Oird-
nidhe assembled a very great army to proceed into Leinster, and devastated
Leinster twice in one month. A full muster of the men of Ireland (except the
Leinstermen), both laity and clergy, was again made by him, [and he marched]
until he reached Dun-Cuair, on the confines of Meath and Leinster. Thither
came Connmach, successor of Patrick, having the clergy of Leath-Chuinn along
with him. It was not pleasing to the clergy to go upon any expedition; they
(To be continued.)
[NE W SERIES.\
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
JULY, 1869.
CATHOLICITY AND PROGRESS.
4 ' I admire the wisdom of the Church, in not repudiating the heritage of the old
civilization, but in improving it through labour, purifying it through holiness, ferti-
lizing it through genius, and making it pass into our hands, that it might increase
the more." — A. F. OZANAN.
/\T no time was the discussion of the connexion between
Catholicity and " progress" more appropriate than it is just
now. Catholic doctrines, having withstood all other objections,
are accused now of exercising an influence prejudicial to mate-
rial and intellectual progress.
The enemies of the Catholic faith, unable by violence to
impede its victorious advance, have taken refuge in mis-
representation. Counting on the superior attractions which
they suppose wealth and knowledge to have for man, they
declare the acquisition of these to have been, and to be,
incompatible with Catholicity. Unqestionably, man does value
these natural gifts, but they are not all, he cannot dispense
with the supernatural. " Man is still man. The genius of
mechanism will not always sit like a choking incubus on our
soul." Whether Catholicity can flourish and not obstruct
material progress and intellectual culture ? — is the question of
the day.
Influenced by the calumnies to which we have referred, we
find many asking it in many places. In the new world,
countries beginning the great career of nations, ask how this
faith will affect their progress. European society, amid its
VOL. v. 31
454 Catholicity and Progress.
convulsive throes, asks, whether Catholicity or irreligion will
give to it that security, that rest, for which it pines. In these
islands the importance of the question is obvious. Here the
controversy is at its height, the issue imminent, and the result
will be all important.
It is wise, then, to propose this question to Catholics who
stand inside that threshold from which the ignorant turn, and
upon which the hesitating pause.
The Students of the Catholic University are now manning
one of the ramparts which faith has raised in this country.
These defenders of the faith must put on the armour of light,
and thus repel the last device of the flying enemy — slander's
poisoned arrow.
Into such a service we enter as volunteers, not without some
hope of success, but yet prepared to rejoice in the triumph of
those who shall prove themselves to be more able and more
eloquent advocates. On the threshold let us be clear on one
point. We do not enter on this discussion to convince our-
selves, but to refute our adversaries.
As Catholics, we cannot believe the Church to be hostile to
progress ; to believe her so, would be to ascribe error to that
which we confess cannot err. The premises, however, which
force Catholics to this inevitable conclusion, are not granted
by our opponents. For them we must adopt such an argu-
ment as this : "that system under which progress has been made
is not hostile to it, progress has been made under Catholicity,
therefore, Catholicity is not hostile to progress." Before we
proceed to develop the historical analysis which is involved
in this argument, we may observe that progress is in the very
essence of the Church, and has been advocated by her doctors.
The spirit of the Catholic Church is embodied in the
precept — " Estote perfecti." This commits her members to a
life-long labour; their actions of every kind must be performed
with an intention of progressing, which nothing short of per-
fection must limit. Speaking of this "progress," says Saint
Vincent of Lerins, "Will there then be no progress in the
Church of Christ ? surely there will, and plenty ; for who could
be so jealous of the good of mankind as to stay that progress."
In the same strain writes Bossuet, "although constant and
perpetual, the Catholic is not without progress." And for
ourselves, do we not learn from her numerous councils,
general and local, how sensitive the Catholic Church is of
the march of time ? Does she not suit her actions to repress
the peculiar vices, or to promote the virtues of every age
and place. "Age cannot wither her, nor, custom stale her
infinite variety."
Catholicity and Progress. 45 $
Yet councils, nor doctors, no, nor the tongues of angels,
will convince those whose sole criterion for everything, human
and divine, is material success, whose sole divinity is mammon.
Well, we can show them, for it is in their interest we write, this
loved material wealth, and intellectual culture too, existing
and progressing under Catholic influence. Let us not be
misunderstood. We do not count these advantages as essential
notes of the Catholic Church, we don't look on them as proofs
of her existence — no such thing. We merely state that they are
not incompatible with her or she with them. We could state
more. We could state that all progress, whether social, moral,
or intellectual, has been greater under her influence than under
any other form of faith ; and that the last wave of civilization
which is breaking on the shores of modern times, owes its
impetus to her power, which first made the waters of regenera-
tion flow !
Those who point to the material and intellectual progress of
non-Catholic countries, and ascribe such effects to their diffe-
rent religion, should remember that pagan nations had these
characteristics in a high degree. Will the proposers of this
argument accept the consequence when pushed to its legitimate
limits ? The recommendation of a Faith is to be the material
and intellectual success which accompanies it? Well, Alexander,
Hanibal, and Caesar were great generals, and they were pagans ;
hence paganism was favourable to the practice of arms.
Homer, Pindar, Aristotle, Plato, Virgil, and Horace, arrived
at great intellectual perfection, and they were pagans ; therefore,
paganism conduced to intellectual advancement. The Phoe-
nicians and Tyrians swept the then known seas with an ex-
tensive commerce, and they were pagans ; therefore paganism
fostered trade. Art and science flourished in pagan times ;
therefore, paganism cherished art and science. In fine, know-
ledge, and riches, and power were all attained under the old
paganism, and there is nothing to prevent them from being
attained under a new one. Such are natural effects from natural
causes. But before people rush back to paganism, merely for
these advantages, is it not only justice to Catholicity to inquire,
whether art, and riches, and knowledge have not flourished,
and are not now flourishing under her influence ? Indeed we
shall find the scales here equally poised.
To appreciate the progress of human society under the in-
fluence of the Catholic Church, we should apprehend its condi-
tion before her action upon it. The centre of her operations was
fixed in Rome. The Jews and Barbarians lay outside. In the
Roman Empire all was in a state of transition — the old civiliza-
456 . Catholicity and Progress.
tion had had its day. A summer heat of success had dried up
the sap of the tree, and yet, its autumnal tints were so glorious
as to make those who beheld them forget the winter of which
they were but the forerunners.
The great material and intellectual strength which the old
order yet possessed were the last fruits ; no more seed was
sown. The capital was hourly drawn on, and bankruptcy in
faith, and power, and learning was at hand. All the surrounding
glitter could not conceal the decay from the piercing eye or
lacerating pen of the satirist. That grand race, says Juvenal —
" Qui dabat olim
Imperium, faces, ligiones, omnia nunc se
Continet, atque duas tantum res anxius optat
Panem et circenses."
Yes ; food and games replaced all the high aspirations of
former days. In every layer of the social structure there was
corruption ; among the higher orders even such faith as they
once had was replaced by scepticism, and scepticism produced
its unfailing result, the grossest sensuality. " Incredulity," says
Gibbon, " was communicated from the philosopher to the man
of pleasure or business, from the noble to the plebeian, and from
the master to the menial slave who waited at his table."
As the Roman man and youth had fallen from the field
of valour, so fell the Roman maid and matron from the path
of virtue. Some might still indeed,
" In Corinthian mirrors their own bright smiles behold,
And breathe of Capuan odours, and shine in Spanish gold."
But what were these ? the wages of sin !
From the nobles let us turn to the people. Did the materialism
of that age subscribe to the great principle " Salus populi su-
prema lex ?" Oh, you the labourers of the earth — and you are
the multitude in every land — hear what the striving after luxury
and wealth, unrestrained by religion, did for the people in those
days, and learn what it will do for them in these. The pen of the
imperial commentater thus graphically describes their position:
" The people," says Caesar, "are almost on a level with the slave.
Of themselves they venture nothing, their voice is of no avail,
they are so loaded with debt and taxes, oppressed, by the power-
ful, and given over to the servitude of those who exercise over
them the same rights as over the slaves." These words were no
exaggeration then ; applied to the state of the people in some
Catholicity and Progress, 457
civilized countries, they would be no exaggeration now. For
whether lust of wealth and power reigned two thousand years
ago or reigneth now, the result is the same ; a few leviathans
frolicking in an ocean of pleasure, and the millions steeped in the
lowest depths of misery. The superlative wretchedness in those
days was that of the slave ; he had the misfortunes of all other
states, and morebesides. His comfort, nay, his very life, depended
on a master's whim. For him there was no rest in the present,
there was no hope of it in the future. Often too numerous, the
ranks of the slaves were thinned now and then by sacrifices
of several hundreds of them to the manes of some murdered
tyrant. Such was the Roman difficulty in the path of progress.
The Jew was a less powerful but not less dangerous opponent.
Like the Roman, the Jewish danger was the danger of decay,
before both societies lay the " facilis decensus." The chosen
people had passed through the ordeals of power and subjection.
They had handed down to them from the olden days of faith, a
promise of an everlasting kingdom. In the course of time,
and in the laxity of faith, their material minds had construed
these promises into a guarantee of a temporal kingdom. We
all know how false were such hopes. Much expecting, they
were much disappointed ; and thus — in the light of a history
before which all others fade — this great people became a listless
and desponding race, the second great impediment in the
march of civilization. From the contemplation of the effete
condition of Roman and Jew, we turn with a sense of relief to
the hardy tribes of the north.
They were the great actors in the drama we are about to
view. Their antagonism to Catholicity was the very opposite
of that which we have been considering. In the former there
was luxury even to abuse ; among the barbarians there was an
absence of all refinement. Individuality, which was well nigh
extinguished among the Romans, was asserted to the verge of
anarchy among the northern hordes. Both conditions were
alike hostile to that great mean upon which alone a permanent
settlement of society can be made. We have said something
of the pernicious effects of a general slavery. M. Guizot thus
writes of the opposite extreme — "Whenever individuality
almost absolutely prevails, or man only considers himself, or
his ideas do not extend beyond himself, society, I mean any-
thing of extent or permanency, becomes impossible."
Such were some of the difficulties with which Catholicity had
to contend. The career of decay and destruction must alike
be stopped, and society put in the path of " progress." The
task was difficult. It would have been far easier, far more "going
with the times," as we say now, to indulge the abominations
458 CatJwlicity and Progress.
of the empire, to flatter the Jew with vain hopes, and to
license the keen appetite of the impetuous invaders, than to
reform the Roman, convert the Jew, and restrain the barbarian
hordes.
Degeneration and progress lay before Catholicity ! Which
did she encourage ? If this is answered, all is answered. Let
history reply.
The first great injunction of Catholicity, penance, went at once
to the root of the greatest evil. Luxury was met and conquered.
The couch and the bath were deserted for the new training
school, where all should be athletes ; there was another
Campus Martius, and Horace need lament no more.
" Cur apricum
Oderit campum, patiens pulveris atque solis
Cur timet flavum Tiberim tangere ? cur olivum
Sanguine viperino
Cautius vitat."
Once more the limbs are oiled, once more the loins are braced,
but it is for the moral fight instituted by the Catholic Church.
As luxury recedes, intellectual life returns. A new philosophy
more attractive than the old sustains this life ; in it the long
cherished doctrine — the soul's immortality — is rescued from
the doubts which hitherto surrounded it. While securing eternal
interests, the Church was not unmindful of the material progress
of human society. By her influence was called into existence,
an institution which has been the corner-stone of the social
edifice — the first great step in the progress of civilization, and
the existence of which, after eighteen centuries, is still the
safeguard of society — the Christian family? In the old
civilization the sacredness and importance of family ties were
not lost sight of, but, what cruel enactments could not enforce
the mild influence of Catholicity soon established. In the train
of Catholicity reforms still progress — the improvement of the
upper classes is followed by the elevation of the people and
the enfranchisement of the slave. Impassible barriers no longer
stand between noble and plebeian. For the first time in the
world's history a system is established which embraces all alike.
There was no longer cold selfishness, each one was conscious
of a relative existence ; — there was no longer indifference, each
one had a part to play. The wisdom of its after matchless
organization is thus foreshadowed in the infancy of the Catholic
/~*1 1 *
Church.
The problem of the slave had ever been a vexed one, and
the problem of slavery under any form, will ever be a vexed
Catholicity and Progress, 459
one. It had puzzled the wisdom of Plato, and of Aristotle.
"If," says the latter, "you treat slaves mildly they become in-
solent; if harshly, they conceive hatred and conspire." The
Catholic Church solved the difficulty. She cut the gordian
knots which bound the slaves. "There is neither bond nor free,
but all are one in Christ Jesus." What an announcement to the
outcasts of society — what a severing of the bonds of centuries
— what a lesson to posterity?
Quietly was this miracle performed. Enfranchisement was
advocated by the Church in her councils, and was practised by
herself; the slave once elapsed to her bosom was finally ele-
evated to her ministry. It would be superfluous to dwell on
the effect of this reform on human progress. Meanwhile,
vanquished paganism marks the advance of the Church. Per-
secution having failed to arrest the progress of Catholicity, a
new species of opposition must be had recourse to. That
never failing one, ever ancient and ever new, " the giving of a
bad name," is adopted. " Catholicity," cry out the old pagans,
" is hostile to the acquisition of wealth and knowledge — it is
opposed to progress." This is published far and wide; but as
Gibbon says "the picture betrays by its dark colouring the
pencil of an enemy." Then, as now, the order of the Catholic
Church is the kingdom of heaven first, and every thing else
after. She shrinks not from consequences which would frighten
a material man.
The ancient slander did not, nor will modern ones, frighten
her into a compromise. Out of the. first we shall see her rise
triumphant, and decked with all the ornaments of knowledge,
and thus will she rise out of others. It was necessary that
paganism should rot, that Catholicity might flourish. It is by
sowing her own seeds, and not adopting the weeds of corruption,
that faith must conquer. " Roma sedendo vincet.
Insensible to the charms of the ancient literature the Church
was not ; but they must come in their proper place. At this
time, no doubt, she was extremely cautious about the pro-
motion of secular knowledge. Was it an unnecessary caution ?
Instruction of this kind was generally conveyed by pagans ;
the national schools were in their hands, and of these Tertullien
says, "they must necessarily teach the names of the gods,
their genealogies and attributes, and observe the pagan festivals
on which their emoluments depend." From such causes there
were many relapses into paganism — and hence caution was
most necessary.
But when the kingdom of God was secured, then every
thing else was added, and in abundance. "Stripped of its
dangers the school entered the Church," learning and religion
460 Catholicity and Progress.
became synonymes. The compass once in his hand, the
mariner was launched on the great ocean of inquiry. When
scepticism as to his own being was at an end, when his
sensual appetites were in check, man had reached that vantage
ground, where, standing outside the world, he could calmly
examine " the marvellous works of God." But let us borrow
the words of St. Basil to explain the connection which the
Catholic Church advocates between intellectual culture and faith
— " The real property of trees is," he says, "to bear fruit in their
season, and yet, they clothe themselves with flowers and green
branches. So the holy truth is the fruit of the soul, and yet
there is some grace in clothing it with a different wisdom, like
the foliage which covers the fruit and lends it the charm of
its verdure." If this order were clearly kept in view a world
of people would be spared a world of trouble. But when the
precious fruit of faith hung on the branches of peace, what
verdure clustered round it ? The air was heavy with the
perfume of knowledge — aroma scientiarum — which emanated
from the Jeromes, Basils, Gregories, Tertulliens, and Augus-
tines. Even now looking back through the darkened glass of
time, we are dazzled by the light of these stars, whose rays
were kindled in the very heart of Catholicity.
Scarcely had this lull allowed the tree of the faith to put
forth its fruit, and embosom itself in the foliage of knowledge,
when the long lowering tempest swept over the land, mak-
ing religion and civilization quail before it. The incursion
of the Barbarians was not opposed by the material strength
of the Empire. Rome, the centre of civilization, had been
deserted by its imperial rulers. An abandoned people had
thrown themselves into the hands of its venerable bishops.
Thus early, and long before Pepin or Charlemagne confirmed
it, did the temporal sway of that illustrious line of Sovereign
Pontiffs commence — that line which culminates all the suffer-
ings, all the glory, all the sanctity of eighteen centuries in the
person of our holy Pope Pius IX.
Thus commenced a power which, says Gibbon, "was
founded in the purest origin of any power on earth — the will
of the people !"
It was not merely used to protect the people from anni-
hilation, but also to save from the deluge some remnants of
learning. It was the Catholic Church which provided arks to
save the seeds of knowledge, it was the Catholic Church
which guided them till the waters sank, it was her sons who
planted those seeds again, and it is under their care that
they have increased and multiplied ! This is saying a great
deal, but it is no more than what is true. A Protestant historian
Catholicity and Progress. 46 1
of literature, Mr. Hallam, says — " For five centuries every sort
of knowledge was confined to the Church ; it kept flowing in
the worst of seasons, a slender but living stream." And anon
the slender stream gets broad, bearing upon its expansive
bosom the literary treasures of the past. " Fortunately,"
again says Hallam, "Benedict, whose order became most
widely spread, enjoined upon his brethren to copy and collect
books. This, in course of time, became the means of multi-
plying classical manuscripts."
When recommending universal history to the consideration
of the Dauphin, Bossuet drew his special attention to that of
France ; and will not an Irish Catholic student be excused,
when reviewing the progress of society, if he dwells upon
the grateful fact, that nowhere in the civilized world did the
re-kindled lamps of learning burn more brightly than in his
own country? "As early," continues the author before
quoted, " as the sixth century, a glimmer of light was per-
ceptible in the Irish Monasteries, and in the next, when
France and Italy had sunk in deeper ignorance, they stood in
a very respectable position."
In the schools of Ireland studied the students of every
nation ; and in the schools of every nation taught the scholars
of Ireland. They stood in the halls of Albion, and beside
the chair of Carolus Magnus —
" But the flight is far too long,
Weak the wings of worldly song,
David's muse alone could rise
To a theme of such emprise,
As to give in long array
Those who, in that happiest day,
Bore on Faith's bright flag unfurl'd
Erin's name throughout the world."
It is not social reform or intellectual progress only which
mark the course of the Catholic Church. The spirit of
enterprise and discovery is first displayed by her ministers.
In the seventh century, Byzantine monks buried them-
selves in the steppes of Central Asia, and crossed the great
wall of China ; in 795, Irish monks, impelled by fervour,
ventured on the western ocean, touched the frozen shores of
Iceland, and were cast on the coast of America.
But, henceforward, nothing less than a general history of
civilization could adequately describe the influence of Catho-
licity on human progress.
Such an inquiry is beyond the limits of this essay ; we can
462 Catholicity and Progress.
only select its most important features. From the middle
ages the last remnants of barbarity and paganism were not
quite gone. "It was the Church," says M. Guizot, "which
harmonized the lawless and barbarian races of Europe." As
in the early days the Solitaries of the East had peopled the
Church with saints and scholars, so now do the Monks of the
West found seats of learning all over Europe. Monte Casino
and Subiacco were springs of knowledge. The matchless
organization of the Catholic Church could alone institute
those centres of learning, the " Universities." At her call,
Paris, Bologna, Ferrara, Oxford, Cambridge, Louvain, Vienna,
Leipsic, Salamanca, Alcala, and others, spring into existence.
Their origin, their privileges, their honours were from her.
In the intellectual revel of these days some men abandoned
faith, and sought to restore Paganism. In this crisis the
Church did not discountenance learning, for now its
greatest proficients were her ablest defenders, Aquinas,
Bernard, Anselm, were a match for Roscelin and Abelard.
By their profound knowledge and close reasoning, were
shallow conceits upset, and sound learning again restored.
We have seen how much Catholicity contributed to the social
and intellectual progress of Ireland in the early times ; let us
see what it did for England in these middle ages. By order of
the Council of Latern, schools were established through the
length and breadth of the land. Wherever there was a con-
vent, there was learning, there was progress. " A convent
without a library, was like a castle without an armoury ; and
the scarceness of parchment only, prevented the transcrip-
tion of many books." The fathers of English literature
were monks, who wrote and sung by English rivers. The
first English Epic is from the pen of a Catholic priest,
John Barbour. It was not merely in its infancy that
English literature was fostered by Catholic influence —
its brightest ornaments were modelled, if not created, by the
example of Catholic Italy. " In Italy," says Hallam, "was
supplied the fire at which other nations lighted their torches."
There, fostered by Catholic influence, were Dante and
Petrarch — the morning stars of literature — streaks of whose
immortal light illumine the page of Chaucer, Spencer, and
Milton.
By the exertion of the Church we find writing becoming
more general amongst the people, and the laborious Benedic-
tines declare with joy that "the art of writing has become more
general among the laity." How like hostility to progress this ?
Whether paper was discovered first by Greeks or Sara-
cens, we need not pause to inquire ; but this we know, it was
Catholicity and Progress. 463
eagerly availed of by the Catholic Church as a means of
spreading knowledge. Pursuing our history to the fifteenth
century, we find a Cardinal and Secretary to two illustrious
Popes, filling Europe with the fame of his learning, and giving to
his age his name. " To Cardinal Poggio Bracciolini," says Hallam,
"we owe the orations of Cicero, Quinctillian, Lucretius, Ter-
tullien, and twelve comedies of Plautus," which he discovered
on the shelves of monasteries.
Pope Nicholas V., a renowned patron of letters, added
the following Greek authors to the Cardinal's collection —
Herodotus, Thucydides, and Strabo. Does the non-Catholic
student, when he studies these authors, ever think that he
owes them to the patient hand of the monk, and the literary
taste of an illustrious Pontiff, and the bright band whom Gib-
bon declares " to have clustered round his Pontifical Chair ?"
or does such a student close them, to join in the senseless, the
ignorant cry which brands these gifted men, and the system
which produced them, as hostile to progress?
But against such empty denunciations we can oppose such
testimony as the biographer of Leo X. bears to the in-
fluence of the Popes in aiding human progress. " Hence the
Roman Pontiffs," says Roscoe, "have frequently displayed
examples highly worthy of imitation, and have signalized
themselves in an eminent degree as patrons of science, of
letters, and of art ; and among the predecessors of
Leo X., the philosopher may contemplate with approbation
the eloquence and courage of Leo I., who preserved
the City of Rome from the ravages of the barbarian Attila ;
the beneficence, candour, and pastoral attention of Gregory I.,
unjustly charged with being the adversary of liberal studies ;
the various acquirements of Silvester II. ; the industry,
acuteness, and learning of Innocent III., of Gregory IX.,
of Innocent IV., and of Pius II.; and of the munificence
and love of literature so strikingly displayed in the character
of Nicholas V."
But nowhere did the influence of the Catholic Church so
much contribute to intellectual progress as in Germany. It
was here the Deventer Brotherhood, led by Thomas a Kempis,
founded those schools which Eichhorn calls " the first genuine
nurseries of literature in Germany."
To the progress of science, as well as literature, the Church
accords her effective aid. The labours of Spanish monks
spread the knowledge of Arabian symbols and figures over
Europe. In Poland, Vitello; in England, Roger Bacon; culti-
vated science in the solitude of their convent cells. Indeed in
every branch the historian of literature must acknowledge the
464 Catholicity and Progress.
beneficial influence of the Church ; the most interesting feature
of the light or romantic writings of the middle ages is traceable
to this source. Women were the ennobling theme of almost all
the gay productions of these days, and Hallam ascribes this
chivalrous admiration, " to the respect the clergy paid them."
All we have hitherto said of the action of the Catholic Church
in the cause of progress is slight, in comparison to that at which
we will soon arrive. " About the end of the fourteenth cen-
tury there was a practice in the Church of taking impressions
from blocks of wood, for rude cuts of saints, frequently accom-
panied by a few lines of letters cut in the blocks. Gradually
entire pages were impressed, and thus began what are called
block-books, printed in fixed characters."1
And thus we may add, from a good, pious Catholic custom,
sprung the greatest invention of ancient or modern times, the
greatest aid to the progress of society — the printing press !
When the principle thus born had been applied for practical
purposes by Costar or Guttenberg, it was the Church that
first used it for the diffusion of sacred and profane knowledge.
True to her mission, she first devoted it to the printing of
the inspired writings. That " venerable and splendid volume
may be seen in imagination leading up the crowded myriads
of its followers, and imploring, as it were, a blessing on the
new art by dedicating its first fruits to the glory of heaven."2
In the convents first worked the "printing-presses." From
Subiacco went forth the first works, Augustin de Civitate Dei
and Cicero de Oratore. In thirty years over twenty-three
editions of classic authors were published by the Church ; and
the "press" became in her hands the prolific source of sacred
and secular learning. The follower of progress soon finds him-
self in its most brilliant epoch — it is the age of Leo X. How
different his position from that of the other Leo, his predeces-
sor ; since then how vast the "progress." The one a suppliant
at the feet of barbarism — the other a ruler at the head of
civilization. Ariosto sung in Italy, More wrote in England,
Erasmus and Budceus dazzled Europe with their scholarship.
Before we dwell upon this age, we must remark that the
material progress of society was no less striking than the
religious and intellectual — it is the privilege of the Catholic
Church, and of her alone, to combine the three. The religious
orders scattered through the rural districts, by their untiring
labour, established agriculture in Europe — rocks became
gardens under the patient toil of the monk. In their hands
property first assumed a sacred character in the eyes of still half
civilized races ; and in fact for the first time right becomes might
1 Hallam. * Hallam.
Catholicity and Progress. 465
Constantly it was the task of the Church to come between
the tyrannous nobles and rebellious people.
To make peaceful the relations between these two inevitable
conditions of society, the governing and the governed, was
and is the aim of the Church. We cannot leave the middle
ages without referring to the crusades, and to the part which
the Church played in them. Their influence upon European
progress cannot be questioned. They gave an impetus
to learning, to commerce, and more than all, to popular liberty.
It was their influence which abolished feudalism — the mediaeval
form of slavery — in a cleared atmosphere a new and vigorous
vegetation sprung up on every side, and society starts on
another career of "progress."
The idea of the holy wars emanated from the Church. They
were commenced, carried on, and finished with her blessing. As
to the morality of all their details, and as to their being unquali-
fied benefits, there is, we know, much controversy; but this at
least can be said with certainty, that "whatever grand ideas,
vast plans, noble inspirations, social and political views of the
highest importance were displayed in these wars, sprung from
the Catholic element ; and if they are disgraced, as they
sometimes are, by disorder, improvidence, and violence, these
were surely results of the barbarism which still swayed the
human heart." This social progress was felt everywhere; but
most notably in the very centres of Catholic influence. " Then,"
says Lord Macaulay, " Italian ships covered every sea;
Italian factories rose on every shore ; the tables of Italian
money-changers were set in every city. We doubt," he
continues, "whether any country in Europe, our own ex-
cepted, has ever reached so high a point of wealth and
civilization as Italy had attained some four hundred years
ago. Every place to which her merchant princes extended
their gigantic traffic, from the bazaars of the Tigris to the
monasteries of the Clyde, was ransacked for medals and manu-
scripts. Knowledge and public prosperity continued to advance
together." I have not the eloquent words of Lord Macaulay to
describe the "progress" of the other parts of Catholic Europe at
this time. But do we not know that Spain was in the zenith
of her glory ; the Moors were delivering up their usurped
dominions at home, while Columbus was exploring new worlds
abroad, and under the guidance of the great Cardinal
Ximines, the greatest advance in human progress was made
by this Catholic country.
From neighbouring and not less Catholic Portugal, a sailor
prince explores the African coast, reaches the Equator, and
discovers Madeira. Vasco de Gama reveals the Indies, and
466 Catholicity and Progress.
• '
Catholic monks pointed out to the merchants of Genoa and
Venice the road to Pekin ! But let us rest our eyes on the
crowning spectacle of this age of progress. . . Let us look to
the cynosure of all the brilliant galaxy of the sixteenth
century — let us venerate Leo X. He presided over a civili-
zation in which art flourished — as only Catholic art can — in
which printing had been discovered, the heavens studied, and
the world explored ; so that before all that was done then, the
acquisitions of the last three centuries appear but small indeed.
That Rome should become the centre of art and letters, as
well as of religion, was the great desire of Leo.
In a bull, by which he renovated the Roman college, Leo
expresses his desire for the promotion of literature and science.
" Having lately," says he, " been called by/Divine Providence
to the office of Supreme Pontiff, and having restored to our
beloved subjects their rights, we have re-granted to the Roman
University those revenues which were perverted to other pur-
poses. And to the end that the city of Rome may assume
that superiority over the rest of the world in literary studies
which she already enjoys in other respects, we have, from dif-
ferent parts, obtained the assistance of men acquainted with
every branch of learning, whom we have appointed professors."
To recount all the assistance which the Church then afforded to
Sculptor and Poet, such as Michael Angelo and Ariosto — to
Painter and Historian, such as Raffelle and Vardi — would re-
quire an essay in itself. I will close my remarks about
this age with what I consider yet the highest tribute
which his English biographer pays to Leo X., " the
Roman citizens who partook in the affluence of the Church,
in a general abundance of all the necessaries of life, re-
echoed the praises of the Pontiff, who, by a liberal
policy, allowed all kinds of merchandise to be imported
and exported throughout all his dominions. Hence the
City of Rome became a granary, always supplied with provi-
sions, and was chosen as a residence by mercantile men, who
contributed by their < wealth and industry to the general pros-
perity."
The happiness enjoyed by the Roman people during the re-
maining part of the life of Leo X., forms, indeed, the
truest glory of his pontificate ; and in his concluding words,
Mr. Roscoe declares, "and happy it is for the world, when the
pursuits of powerful individuals, instead of being devoted to
the subjugation or destruction of the human race, are directed
towards those beneficent and generous ends, which, amidst all
his avocations, Leo X. appears to have kept continually
in view."
Catholicity and Progress. 467
It was at this period that Martin Luther arose to deny the
authority of the Catholic Church. We are all aware of his
success, and on inquiry the cause of it will not be found far
off. The Reformer appealed to the barbaric chord which is
set, no matter how low down, in each human breast The
Church had preached restraint and individual responsibility.
Luther advocated an all-sufficient faith. The church required
honesty, purity, and virtue in this life. Luther post-
poned all such restrictions to a future life. By laying more
stress on God's anxiety to forgive sin than on his horror. of its
commission, a premium was laid on vice by the Reformer
and his followers.
Predestination, preached by other Reformers, dried up the
springs of human action.
It will not require a very deep philosophy to discover how
such doctrines are calculated, in the long run, however suc-
cessful they m'ay be for a time, to sap the foundations of
society, and imperil the "march of progress." Between such
a system and the Catholic Church there was set an enmity.
" This Protestant era," says Chateaubriand, " from the first
hour of its existence, refused all relationship with that Leo
who protected the civilized world against Attila, and also with
the era of that second Leo, at whose coming barbarism van-
ished, and society, now no longer in need of defence, puts on
the ornament of civilization."
But the new doctrines were calculated to retard intellectual
progress as well as moral. In the contentions of sects, learning
and art, which flourish only in a peaceful atmosphere, greatly
declined.
" Then," says Lord Bacon, " grew the learning of the school-
men to be utterly despised as barbarous. In fine, the whole
inclination and bent of those times was rather towards copia
than weight" "And the consequences of the Reformation on
the arts," says Roscoe, "were yet more direct." Before this event,
the Roman religion had not only relinquished its hostility to the
productions of the chisel or the pencil, but had become the
foster-mother of these pursuits, and supplied the noblest and
most interesting subjects for the exercise of their powers.
The artist whose labours were associated with the religion
of his country, enjoyed a kind of sacred character ; — the ten-
dency of the Reformation was to deprive him of these benefits."
However, though learning suffered, and progress was retarded
by the violence of Luther and the fanaticism of Calvin, Zwingle,
Knox, etc., yet the solicitude of the Church in their behalf
was not abated.
And in these efforts she commanded powerful assistance.
468 Catholicity and Progress.
With a matchless wisdom she recognizes, embraces, and
blesses individual action. Faith alone, which she may not
risk, binds the liberty of her members. From this course the
Catholic Church reaps many benefits. "With the utmost
pomp," says Lord Macaulay, "of a hierarchy above, she has
all the energy of a voluntary system below."
From her bosom, which formerly supplied the Benedictines
and Carthusians, those diligent copyists; the Dominicans,
that order so full of historians, painters, and sculptors; now
springs the order of Jesuits — at once missionaries of faith,
and ornaments of literature. What clime do they not
visit ? What works do they not achieve ? Before their
mighty organization hostile spectators pause to admire. " No
one will deny," says Hallam, "that in classical know-
ledge, particularly of the Latin language, and of the elegance
with which they wrote it, the order of the Jesuits might stand
in competition with any scholars of Europe."
These great orders, springing up like fountains in the
Catholic Church, betray her ever-living source.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries no doubt
the non-Catholic systems fostered intellectual and material
progress ; this we could not deny, this it is not our business to
question. We have only to ask was Catholicity less fruitful in
like instances? The verdict of history is here again decisive —
Richelieu and Mazarin direct the fortunes of the greatest
empire in the world. Bossuet raises history to its grandest
platform, and gives to oratory its greatest elegance. Fenelon
rivals the classic times in France, and Pope revives their
beauties in England. Racine and Moliere adorn the stage,
and philosophy is indebted to Pascal and Malebranche. While
the rivalry of Protestantism lasted, it seemed but to have
more clearly developed that aptitude which the Catholic faith
possesses for promoting the material and intellectual progress
of society.
The last page which we shall examine will show the ceaseless
action of the Catholic Church in the cause of progress, and
will bring this essay to a close. The success of Protestantism
was short-lived; with its nbvelty its reputation decreases —
beyond its first victories it made little way. "Why is it,"
asks Macaulay, "that Protestantism, after carrying every
thing before it in a time of comparatively little knowledge,
and little freedom, should make no perceptible progress in a
reasoning and tolerant age — that the Luthers, the Zwingles,
the Knoxe5 should have left no successors ? At the close of
Elizabeth's reign it had left its first love and ceased to do its
work."
Catholicity and Progress. 469
Is the verdict of this Protestant Historian equally unfa-
vourable to Catholicity ; far from it. " The Catholic Church,"
he says, " is still sending forth to the end of the world her
missionaries. The number of her children is greater than in
any former age. Her acquisitions in the New World more
than compensate her for what she has lost in the Old. Her
spiritual ascendancy extends over the vast countries which
lie between the plains of Missouri and Cape Horn." Referring
to this enduring vitality of the Church, another Protestant
authority says, " long before the first Consul set on foot ne-
gociations with the Papacy, in order to enrol it among the
salaried offices of the State, priests, in direct commtmication
with Rome, had begun with ardour the work of missionaries
of the Catholic faith. The old religion was taking root again
in the soil of the revolutionized country, and under condi-
tions more similar to those of primeval Christianity than
those imposed by the State connection."
But this ever-budding life is nothing new ! Are the orna-
ments of civilization wanted ? Does the luxuriant foliage men-
tioned by St. Basil no more lend to the fruit the charm of its
verdure? Has intellectual and material "progress" ceased to
accompany Catholicity on its ceaseless journey ? Let the
names of linguists like Cardinals Mezzofanti and Mai ; let
philosophers like Frederick Schlegel— let historians like
Lingard, Balmez, and Dollinger — let theologians like Mohler,
Peronne, and De Maister — let orators like O'Connell, Ventura,
Lacordaire, and Faber — let physists like Galvani, Vico, and
Gorres — let writers like Chateaubriand, Montalembert,
Conscience, Wiseman, and Newman- — let statesmen like
Gonsalvi, Pacca, and Antonelli — in fine, let every branch of
science, let every phase of art, let every strain of literature, let
all society acknowledge its vast indebtedness to the influence
of the Catholic Church.
So far for the present intellectual position of Catholicity.
But can it still be judged by the great standard which proves all
systems, "Salus populi suprema lex?" Let us see. When philan-
thropists like Young and Mill look for popular comfort and ad-
vancement, where do they go ? To Catholic France, Switzerland,
Saxony, and parts of Germany; they cannot point, they dare not
point, to Protestant institutions nearer home. After paying a
tribute to the social comfort of the people in Catholic countries,
Mr. Kay, a Protestant English barrister, sent out by Cambridge
University, says — " In Catholic Germany, in France, and even
in Italy, the education of the common people is at least as
faithfully promoted as by the clerical body in Scotland. It is
by their own advance, and not by keeping back the advance
VOL. v. 32
470 Catlwlicity and Progress.
of the people, that the Popish priesthood of the present day
seek to keep ahead of the intellectual progress of the people
in Catholic lands. Education," continues this Protestant
barrister, "is really not only not suppressed but it is en-
couraged by the Popish Church. In every street of Rome
there are, at short distances, primary schools — with a popula-
tion of 158,000 it has 372 primary schools, and 14,000 daily
attending. Has Edinburgh so many? I doubt it! Berlin,
with a population double that of Rome, has only 264 schools.
Rome has her university, with 600 students, and the Papal
States seven universities, with a population of 2,500,000.
Prussia, with a population of 14,000,000, has only seven like-
wise." These are Mr. Kay's figures, and they need no
comment. As comparisons are sometimes useful, we will let
Mr. Kay, who dedicates his book to Lord John Russell, describe
the condition of the people in rich, Protestant England.
" If," he says to the noble lord, " the object of Government is
to create an enormous wealthy class, and to raise to the highest
point of civilization about one-fifth of the nation, while it leaves
the rest sunk to the lowest depths of ignorance, helplessness,
and degradation — then the system in Great Britain is perfect.
If we have enormous wealth, we ought to remember we have
enormous pauperism also ; if we have middle classes, richer
and more intelligent than those of any other country, we have
poorer classes, the majority of the people more ignorant, more
pauperized, and more morally degraded, than the poorer classes
of most of the countries of Europe."
In bringing this essay to a close, must we not agree with our
last authority that the social " progress" of society is most
evident under Catholic influence ? And in the intellectual order,
have we not, though feebly it may be, worked out our text ? Must
we not, in the language of the gifted, the youthful, the lamented
A. F. Ozanan — type of a race of noble Catholic writers, who will
no longer leave history to infidels like Gibbon — must we not, in
his words, declare "that we admire the wisdom of the Church in
not repudiating the heritage of civilization, but in improving it
through labour, purifying it through holiness, fertilizing it through
genius, and making it descend into our hands that it might in-
crease the more." In the light of all the evidence we have gone
through, how many yet remain unconvinced? They yet refuse
to enter the Church. They are in an arid waste, " where," as
Thomas Carlyle says, "they live as in a Golgotha — where life
enters not — where peace is not appointed them. They have to
realize a worship for themselves, or die unworshipping — the
Godlike has vanished from their view, and they, by the strong
cry of their souls' agony, must again evoke its presence." "This
Catholicity and Progress. 47 1
miracle has been accomplished," he continues, " but not in our
land — our land yet knows not of it. A noble Frederick
Schlegel, shipwrecked in that fearful loneliness, as of a
silenced battle-field, flies back to Catholicity as a child
to its slain mother's bosom, and clings there." Many
have evoked King Mammon in this their souls' agony, but
his worship will not suffice. Man pines for the old health
of society, when mind and matter had their respective
places in the great system of the Church, when, as Carlyle
again observes, " Society was what we ca,n call whole — the
individual was in himself a whole, and could combine with his
fellow man to form a greater whole. Religion was every-
where, philosophy lay hid under it, and peacefully included in
it, herein, as in the life centre of society, lay the true health
and oneness." And ere laying down our pen, may we not ask
will that " true health and oneness" ever return ? Surely it
will. All things point to it ; we see the fig tree putting forth
its leaves. On all sides there are signs, even in that land of
which but a few years since, thaj: living author, whom we last
quoted said, " it yet knows not of it," even England feels the
Catholic influence, which brings to the Church bright bands,
led by such men as Wilberforce, Faber, Manning, and one whose
name is hallowed in these walls, John Henry Newman ! We
see a disordered society, uninfluenced by contending sects, yearn-
ing for the Unity, the Peace, which the Catholic Church alone
possesses ; we see all anxious to be guided by a power, and to
be saved by a faith which is incompatible with no advance,
material or intellectual; with no government, Monarchial or
Republican ; with no liberty, private or political ; with no class,
rich or poor ; with no " progress," save that of vice !
But there is yet a more definite sign, there is still a more
potent call, " there is the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
make straight the way of the Lord !" The voice of the aged
Pontiff is heard above the distractions of the age. Standing
on the steps of the Vatican he invites all to unity with God in
that comprehensive fold which knows not king nor subject, rich
nor poor, bond nor free, saying to each one, whosoever you be,
whatever you seek, be it victory in the material or the spiritual
contests, receive this banner of the Catholic Church, and
" In hoc Signo Vinces."
C D.
472
QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL CATECHIST.
1 HE successful catechist must be an educated man. It
may not be necessary that he be a profound theologian, or a
man of burning eloquence ; but he must possess clear, solid,
and exact ideas, and be thoroughly made up in what we may
call the essential portions of theology, viz., the Symbol, the
Sacraments, the Commandments of God and the Church, the
virtues and vices, etc., etc. And the reason of this is sufficiently
obvious. He is bound by the obligations of his ministry to
explain all these matters with clearness and precision ; to adapt
his explanations to the capacity of the young, the simple, and
the ignorant ; to vary his expressions and to modify his turn
of thought, as occasion may require, without obscuring the
clearness of his doctrinal teaching ; and how can he do all this
if his own mind be a chaos of uncertainty and confusion ? To
be a successful catechist requires more than a mere superficial
knowledge of the subject. He alone will succeed who knows
how to combine a course of serious reading and theological
study with the habit of close and exact reasoning. More than
this, too, he must be able by mature reflection, and by the
study of standard authors on this particular matter, to express
himself not only intelligibly, but in such a manner as to please
and interest his hearers, be they young or old, well-instructed
or ignorant Now, the catechist who does not possess sufficient
knowledge to enable him to discharge these duties as he ought,
will be certain to go lamentably astray in the matter of his teach-
ing. At one time he will put upon his people obligations which
God and His Church never imposed upon them. At another he
will teach them that they are not bound by the gravest laws.
Thus his inexact teaching ; his false decisions, at one time too
lax, and at another too severe, will, in all probability, be the
cause of innumerable sins in his flock, since it is thus that false
consciences are formed. Without the judgment to perceive
the points on which he ought to insist, he will lose his own
time and that of his people, in the consideration of useless and
frivolous subjects. He will not know how to bring his subject
before his flock in such a manner as to inspire them with an
elevated idea of the truths of their faith, and to fill them
with a great love and esteem of it. He will not possess those
exact ideas of his matter which will enable his hearers to seize
it with ease, and to retain it with pleasure, simply because it is
so clear ; nor those appropriate words which will most plainly
and exactly express the ideas which he wishes to convey ;
Qualities of a Successful Catechist. 473
nor that order which best suits the natural progression of those
ideas, and which puts everything in its right place. The
inevitable result of all this will be that his own ignorance, and
his own confusion of mind, and his own false ideas, will be
reproduced in his hearers. The ignorant or careless pastor will
as surely be surrounded by an ignorant or careless flock. The
blind undertakes to lead the blind ; what wonder if he and they
fall into the ditch ?
Learning is a great thing in its way, and is, as we have just
seen, absolutely necessary in the catechist ; but piety and zeal
are something greater still, and more essential to success.
When considering the subject of persuasion, we have seen that
the great secret of moving others, is to be moved ourselves.
Men are not moved to holy resolutions and inspired with
generous impulses, by him who is destitute of the one, and
insensible to the other. Hence, we may readily judge how
essential a tender spirit of piety is to him who has to deal with
the young or the ignorant. Piety may, in some sense, and to
some degree at least, supply the want of learning ; but no
amount of learning can ever take the place of that spirit of
piety which is such an essential qualification in him who
undertakes to do the work of God. And hence it is that the
humble, painstaking pastor, who is thoroughly pious and
devoted to his work, often produces much more of that fruit
which is to remain, than the man of deep learning, of brilliant
parts, and of showy attainments, whose heart grows cold to
God and the things of God, in proportion as it becomes keen
in the pursuit of learning for its own sake, and loses sight of
the great truth that these things are comparatively worthless,
except in so far as they help us to discharge the duties of our
ministry more faithfully and efficaciously.
The man whose heart is filled with the spirit of God will be
a man of zeal. He will be possessed by an ardent desire of
causing his people to know and to love their God, and thus
secure the salvation of their souls. Unless his labours be
inspired and animated by this spirit of zeal, they will soon
become insufferably tedious and distasteful to him. The levky
and indocility of the children, the grossness and stupidity of
the ignorant, will soon fill him with such a disgust for instructing
them, that he will undertake this duty with the utmost repug-
nance, and as a necessary consequence, discharge it without
interest and without fruit. But, on the contrary, if he be
inspired by a lively zeal and a great love of God, the catechist
will, in this very spirit of zeal, find that courage which will
enable him to triumph over all difficulties. It will supply him
with an invincible spirit of patience to conquer the natural
474 Qualities of a Successful Catechist.
ennui and disgust which he may find in the discharge of this
duty. It will encourage him to persevere, and stimulate him
to employ all the diligence in the preparation of his instructions,
which is absolutely necessary for their success.
And, after all, what wonder is it, or rather ought it to be, to
find the minister of God animated with some small portion of
that spirit of zeal, that desire to save souls, which the enemies
of God display in their efforts to ruin these same souls. As
the Abbe Mullois1 says so well in his eloquent work : " The
wicked, indeed, afford us Christians some most humiliating and
painful lessons, enough to make us hide our faces from very
shame, so much so, that we can wish nothing better than
that the best amongst us might possess that zeal for what is
good which the wicked evince for what is evil." And again,
" we censure the wicked, and are right in doing so ; but let us
at any rate do them this justice, that they are adepts in their
profession .... they profess their opinions boldly ....
they are zealous and active .... they are energetic, and
ready to sacrifice everything, repose, money, liberty, even life
itself. Then, how adroit they are ! how expert in making
themselves great with the great, and little with the little ! And
we ! .... we Christians, who know the worth of men's souls,
whose duty it is to save them, rest satisfied with a few slender
efforts directed often by mere routine !"
Yes, the true minister of God — the true catechist — will be a
man of zeal. His zeal will embrace, with an equal love and
solicitude, all those who have been intrusted to his pastoral
care. He will realize to the full the truth, that every soul is of
equal value before God ; that before God there is no distinction
of rich and poor, of the ignorant and of the highly educated ;
and he will make this truth the great principle of his action in
dealing with his flock. If his zeal admit of any exception of
persons, it will be in favour of those dear children who may
not as yet have lost the priceless charm and grace of their
baptismal innocence, and who, on this account, are so infinitely
dear to the heart of God : in favour of the blessed poor, who
are scarcely less dear to God, or less intimately wound up with
the deepest designs of His love, and the most profuse bestowal
of His choicest graces and benedictions : in favour of those
poor children, so hapless and so mysteriously visited, who have
had the misfortune to be born of parents without faith and
without morality — those poor children who have been reared
amidst ignorance and sin — who have sucked in the poison of
vice with their mother's milk — who have had sin in all its defor-
mity, and vice in all its shameless wantonness, for ever before
lf< Cours d' Eloquence Sacree," par M, L'Abbe Mullois.
Qualities of a Successful Catechist. 475
their eyes — who have scarcely heard of the name of God except
in blasphemy, or of the mysteries of religion, except when they
have been profaned and turned into ridicule. To such as these
in truth, the heart of the true priest of God goes out with a
great yearning, a tender compassion, an ineffable love. He
travails for these dear children all the more bitterly, because he
is but too conscious that if he cannot win them to God, whilst
there is at least some poor shred of the grace, and the
innocence, and the pliability of the childhood which has been
so miserably defaced and contaminated remaining to them,
they will be lost to him for time, and to their God for all
eternity.
True zeal has two great characteristics : it is sweet and it is
prudent ; and to no one who exercises the ministry of the
Word, in any of its varied departments, are these characteristics
of zeal more essential than to him who discharges the duty of
the catechist.
Men, as we have already said more than once, are only
gained to the service of God, and retained in the same, by
charity and sweetness ; and if this be true of men in general,
how much more so is it when there is question of children, and
of the poor, and the ignorant ? St. Augustine tells us that he
was first attracted to think favourably of the Christian religion,
and that he owed the beginning of his conversion to the
sweetness and charity of St. Ambrose : Ccepi aware hominem,
non lit doctorem veritatis, sed tit benevolum in me.1 Many men,
and good men too, know not how to make children and the
ignorant love them. They do not possess, or if they possess
it, they either do not, or they cannot, manifest that true charity
which is the key to every heart. Sometimes they show that
false condescension which is almost as mischievous as the
contrary failing. They flatter when they ought to correct ;
they know not how to refuse ; they allow the children to
become too free and familiar with them : or, what is more
likely, the catechist assumes an air of severity and rigour ; he
is harsh in his rebukes, cold and distant in his manner, stern
in his bearing ; he speaks in angry, bitter, or ironical language ;
he demands from the children more than they can reasonably
be expected to know ; and he covers them with shame and
confusion before their fellows, perhaps before the whole con-
gregation of the church, on account of their ignorance or in-
capacity ; he makes neither allowance for the levity and in-
constancy of the childish heart, nor the grossness and stupidity
of the poor adult, who has grown up in ignorance, neglect,
and sin. The inevitable result is, that he never gains the
^'Confess, "lib. v.
476 Qualities of a Successful Catechist.
confidence of those whom he is bound, on so many titles, to
win to God. He never succeeds in securing their love and
esteem, and thus never succeeds in laying the foundation of
all true influence over them. He forgets the example of his
Divine Master, who drew these same little children to His
breast with such a wealth of infinite condescension and love,
who laid His hands upon them and blessed them.1 He forgets
the teaching of St. Paul, who tells him that he is to instruct, in
a spirit of meekness and charity : Instruite in spirittt lenitatis?
and who himself acted with his flock as a nurse with the
children committed to her care : Tanquam si nutrix foveat
filios suos? He makes out for himself a different line of
conduct from that suggested by St. Bernard, who tells us that
we are to act as mothers, and not as lords and rulers : Matres
esse, non dominos ; and then he cannot understand how it is
that the children fly from him, that they never attend his
instructions but with repugnance ; that they listen to him with
undisguised weariness or affright when they chance to come;
that they seize every opportunity, lawful or unlawful, for
remaining away.
Thus, he takes a great deal of pains perhaps, and yet there
is no result. He sows, it may be diligently and laboriously,
and yet he never reaps. Ah ! if he would only try to realize
the infinite love of Jesus Christ for the young and the ignorant,
and the infinite tenderness of His dealings with them ; if he
would learn how to speak to these persons with sweetness and
affability ; if he would only get rid of the knitted brow, the un-
sympathizing look, and the cold, harsh word ; if he would only
learn to be a little forbearing with the levity and the natural in-
constancy of the child, and a little patient^with the stupidity
of the poor, ignorant adult ; if he would only put on the spirit
of St. Bernard, the spirit of St. Paul — in one word, the spirit of
Jesus Christ, meek and humble of heart — of Jesus Christ, who
came to cast the fire of His love upon the earth — of Jesus
Christ, whose last words were a prayer for the ignorant and
the erring ; then would things go very differently with him.
Then would his labour be no longer thrown away, nor his toil
without profit or fruit. Then would it be his happy and his
blessed lot to reap the good fruit a hundredfold in this world,
and in the world to come life everlasting.
If sweetness be one of the characteristics of true zeal, prudence
is no less essential. As we all know, there is a zeal which is
not according to knowledge — a zeal which is ill-regulated and
undisciplined, and which, on this very account, is injurious in
its very earnestness, and fruitless in its most laboured efforts.
x. 1 6. 2Gal. vi. I. 3I Thess. ii. 7.
Qualities of a Successful Catechist. 477
M. Hamon, in his excellent work, treats this matter very
fully and very practically, in showing the different objects
upon which the true spirit of zeal will naturally be employed.
And, in the first place, he shows how absolutely necessary
the spirit of prudence is for self-government ; that a man may
know how to restrain himself, and regulate the sallies of that
impetuous zeal which is frequently so ill-judged and so un-
fortunate in its results. If a man deliver himself over to the
dominion of that false zeal, which receives every suggestion of
the imagination as a manifestation of the will of heaven, he
will frequently be led grievously astray ; and one sally of this
false spirit will often be sufficient to alienate the hearts of the
young and the ignorant hopelessly from him. The zeal which
is regulated by prudence never acts upon a first impulse, or
listens to the first promptings of the heart ; but it waits until
the fervour of that first impulse has passed away, until that
first prompting of the heart has been subjected to the test of
reason and of reflection. It calmly calculates the consequences
of every measure before adopting it — the result of every word
before uttering it. In one word, the man whose zeal is regu-
lated by prudence, is never governed, in his intercourse with
others, by merely natural instincts, nor are his acts the manifes-
tations of his merely natural character.
Prudence is equally necessary to enable a man to adapt
himself to the various classes of persons to whom his ministry
may be addressed. There are some who require to be res-
trained, others who need to be stimulated and urged on.
There are some circumstances in which a man must be sweet
and gentle, and know how to console and encourage ; others,
in which he must be prompt to reprove and correct. In his
dealings with boys, he must be firm when he speaks to them
in general, mild and gentle when he addresses anyone in
particular. His intercourse with young people of the other
sex must be regulated by the very contrary principles : that is
to say, when he addresses them in general it must be with the
utmost affability and gentleness ; when he has occasion to
speak with anyone in particular, he will employ the utmost
caution and reserve. And from these brief remarks it is easy
to see how essential it is that our dealings with others,
especially the young, be regulated by that prudence which
knows how to adapt itself to circumstances, that prudence which
is the offspring much more of sound sense, than of any mere
technical rules or suggestions.
The man whose conduct is regulated by prudence will never
be guilty of such an indiscretion as that which is committed by
him who, in his dealings with his flock, shows any exception
478 Qualities of a Successful Catechist.
of persons. It is very natural for one to be more attracted to
a child who is handsome and well-dressed, than to one -who is
ill clad, and who exhibits in his person, his language, and his
whole deportment the marks of that poverty and indigence in
which he has been reared. Now, if the catechist so far forget
himself as to be influenced by these merely human instincts ;
if he show more affection for the rich than for the poor, for the
well-dressed and genteel than for the shabby or the ragged ; if
he speak more gently to the one than to the other; if he
reward the respectable child without being equally liberal to
the poor one, who may be just as meritorious, he will inflict an
irreparable. injury upon the work of his ministry, since he will,
by this ill-judged and human preference, infallibly alienate from
himself the heart of the child who is thus unjustly slighted
and passed by. When the heart is thus alienated, that mutual
confidence, which is the foundation of all the good that one
man may hope to do another, is inevitably swept away. The
children who are thus slighted, because they are poor, and poor
without any fault of theirs ; or because they are rough, dirty,
or uncouth — and, God help . them, how could they be other-
wise ? — will be quick to perceive the affront, and as quick to
resent it. That sensibility which fills so large a place in the
heart of a child, which is so keen in its perception, and so
bitterly resentful of contempt or neglect, will be hopelessly
wounded, and turned away from the pastor who acts in this
unworthy manner. Nor is the sensibility of a child less keen,
or his perception of neglect less acute, because he happens to
be poor. On the contrary, it is all the more so on this very
account. The child — the Catholic child at all events — who is
kicked about and buffeted by the world at large ; who scarcely
ever sees a kindly look, or listens to a gentle word, turns to its
priest with an unwavering confidence, so full, so generous, and
so complete, as to seem like a very instinct of its nature. That
instinct seems to prompt it to look to him alone in all the
world, for sympathy and for equal-handed justice. The little
face, so pinched and care-worn, brightens up when he ap-
proaches ; and the kind word of encouragement, or of conso-
lation which drops from his lips, is treasured up and remembered
with an effusion of grateful recollection which is as precious in
itself as it is, in all probability, unthought of and unheeded by
him who utters it. The man who does not realize these
things — who speaks to the poor child harshly because it is
poor — who turns away from it, with ill-disguised disgust,
because it is uncouth or badly clad — who fails to see the face
that brightens up, and the eye that fills with light, on his
approach — who cannot perceive the timid, yet trusting, confi-
Qualities of a Successful Catechist. 479
dence with which his presence is hailed, and his words received,
throws away and rejects a treasure of confidence and love,
which is all the more priceless because it is not really his but
his Master's — all the more priceless, because if it once be lost
it will be lost for ever.
Nor are the evil results which follow from this imprudent
exception of persons confined to the children alone. The
parents will be equally quick to take offence — to resent the
affronts or the slights passed upon their children ; and, on this
account, to withdraw their confidence and their obedience from
their pastor.
The prudent pastor will avoid these inconveniences, so grave
in themselves, and so disastrous in their consequences, by the
strict impartiality and the even-handed justice of his dealings
with the members of his flock. He will treat all alike. When
he rewards the child of wealthy parents, he will reward the
poor who may be equally deserving. If he speak to the one,
he will address the other in terms no less warm and kind. In
one word, as we have already said, if he ever be led to make
an exception, it will be in favour of virtue, piety, docility, and
obedience alone.
In fine, the prudence of the pastor who possesses this virtue,
will manifest itself in the manner in which he will adapt himself
and his discourses to the age, the character, the capacity, and
the special necessities of his hearers. The froward will be re-
buked, and the timid will be encouraged. Those who are
doing their best, in spite of ignorance or natural incapacity,
will be stimulated and urged to persevere ; whilst those who
are abusing or neglecting to cultivate the talents which God
has given them, will be reproved, and, if reproof be found
insufficient, punished. And most especially will this spirit of
prudence be shown in the treatment of those delicate subjects
which cannot be passed over in silence, but which require the
utmost tact, knowledge, and discretion in him who undertakes
to speak of them to the young, the ignorant, and the innocent.
The prudent man will guide himself in this matter by those
rules and principles of action which avoid the two extremes,
equally dangerous and pernicious, of saying too much or too
little,
480
JOHN KNOX AND THE FIRST-FRUITS OF
PRESBYTERIANISM.
J OHN KNOX, the great father of Presbyterianism, was
born in the year 1505, in East Lothian, in Scotland; some
say in the little village of Gifford, but according to others
near the town of Haddington. His panegyrists describe his
parents as landed gentry, whilst others contend that they were
members of the Guild of St. Crispin. A like uncertainty
prevails as to his place of burial. It is generally supposed
that he was interred close to St. Giles', Edinburgh, and in
the Canongate there have been erected, sacred to his memory,
a free kirk and a museum. The so-called "John Knox's
House" was occupied, until lately, as a barber's shop, and
over its door, for a sign, there was a statue of the "Re-
former," enclosed in a pulpit, and adorned with a rich-flowing
green beard.1
The circumstances of Knox's death, as described by his
interested admirers, would recall the dying scene of the
Apostle of the Indies, or of St. Francis de Sales ; but, as
recorded by cotemporary writers, his last moments were far
more like the death-bed struggles of Calvin and Queen
Elizabeth. His friends assembled around him to receive his
dying instructions, but for a long time he could utter no
articulate words, his voice sounding like the barking of a dog.
When consciousness returned, he dwelt upon the mysteries of
some infernal art, and spoke about the war which then
menaced with ruin his long-loved kirk. One of the company
who had taken the pen to note down his dying words, de-
sisted from writing, thinking that he was in delirium ; Knox,
however, perceiving it, angrily upbraided him, saying, " thou
good-for-nothing man — dost thou distrust thy master?" He
then ordered them all to retire for a few minutes, promising
to perform a new and unheard-of miracle in confirmation
of his preaching. They obeyed, but when after a short
interval they returned to his room, they saw, to their utter
horror, his deformed corpse lying lifeless on the floor.2
But we must leave for awhile these private scenes of the
apostle of the new creed, to consider the public acts of the
Presbyterian "Congregation." One of the first great deeds in
which the Fathers of Presbyterianism were engaged was a
1 Gordon's " Scotichronicon," page 304.
2 The authority for the above account of Knox's death is the amanuensis referred
to in the text. See Archibald Hamilton, "De Confusione Calvinianae Sectae,"
page 64, seqq:
John Knox and the First-fruits of Presbyterianism. 48 1
conspiracy against the independence of their native land.
George Wishart and John Knox were leaders in this plot ;
the former, however, soon fell a victim to his political in-
trigues, whilst the latter shared all the struggles of the revo-
lutionary cause, and became the hero of its triumphs.
Henry the Eighth had long looked with a wistful eye
towards Scotland. This nation had refused to follow his
example by setting aside the faith of its fathers, and had
afforded a safe retreat to many who refused to bow down
before the novel supremacy of the English monarch. It was
eagerly whispered through the Palace that the Protestant
interests of England were at stake, so long as an independent
Catholic sovereign ruled beyond the border; and at length all
the intrigues of Henry and his courtiers were directed to annex
Scotland to the English crown, or at least to cripple, by in-
testine war, the dreaded power of that Catholic state.
David Beaton, Cardinal Legate and Archbishop of St.
Andrew's, was the man who at this time guided, with steady
hand, the helm of the state in Scotland, and happily baffled
all the schemes of its enemies. In 1540, Henry sent from
England a "very able minister" to the Scottish court to pro-
cure the disgrace of this faithful cardinal, and to represent
him as plotting with traitors for the overthrow of the royal
throne,1 The English agent, however, could get no credence
for his tale in Edinburgh, and the failure of this attempt
increased the power and influence of Beaton. As intrigue
had failed to accomplish his ruin, Henry resolved to attain
this end by the hand of the assassin. The execution of the
foul design was allotted to Crighton, Lord of Brunston, " a
man," says Tytler, "in whose character we recognise the
ferocity and familiarity with blood which mark the feudal
times in which he lived ; the cunning and duplicity which are
the growth of a more civilized era, and this united to the most
revolting feature of all, a deep religious hypocrisy." Sir Alex-
ander Cockburn, one of the chief members of the congregation,
was also in the pay of Henry, and eagerly joined in the design
of the murder of Beaton. George Wishart, too, was engaged
in this plot, and " formed one of the band paid by Henry the
Eighth to murder the Cardinal. This has been fully proved,
through the correspondence found in the State Paper Office."2
Wishart was sent by Crighton to the Earl of Hertford to
arrange the details of the plot, and from Hertford went on
to London, to communicate in person to Henry the means
they had resolved on to ensure success. In the middle of
l" Saddler's Letters," page 31—36.
8 Gordon's "Scotichronicon," page 264.
482 John Knox and the
April, 1544, Wishart brought the first offer to Hertford, to
" either apprehend or slay" the Cardinal (" State Papers," vol.
v. p. 377). The letter of the Privy Council of London to
Hertford, sent with Wishart on his return from Henry the
Eighth towards the Scottish border, has also been preserved :
" These shall be to signify to you that this bearer Wishart hath
been with the King's Majesty, and, for his credence, declared
even the same matters in substance, whereof your lordship hath
written hither; and hath received for answer, toiiching the feat
against the Cardinal, that in case the lords and gentlemen which
he named, shall enterprise the same earnestly, and do the best
they can, to the uttermost of their power, to bring the same
to pass indeed, and thereupon not being able to continue
longer in Scotland, shall be enforced to fly unto this realm for
refuge, His Highness will be contented to accept them, and
relieve them as shall appertain. For their desire to have the
entertainment of a certain number of men at His Highness's
charges, promising thereupon to covenant with His Majesty
in writing, under their seals, to burn and destroy the abbots',
bishops', and other kirkmen's lands, His Majesty hath answered
that, forasmuch as his army shall be, by the grace of God,
entered into Scotland and ready to return again before His
Highness can send down to them and they send again, His
Highness thinks the time too short to commune any further in
it after this sort. But if they mind effectuall to burn and de-
stroy as they have offered, and therein will give hostages, His
Highness will take order that you shall deliver unto them one
thousand pounds sterling" (Letter of Privy Council to Hert-
ford: Haines' State Papers, vol. i. p. 22.) The following year
the proposal was again made by the same lords to Henry the
Eighth, to murder Beaton without the alternative of appre-
hending him. To this Sir Ralph Sadler replied in the name
of the King, that this feat would be " not only acceptable service
to the Kings Majesty, but also a special benefit to the realm of
Scotland. — State Papers, vol. v. pp. 449-47 1 . The king received
Wishart warmly, expressed "much satisfaction, and approved
of the plot." Wishart returned in joy to Scotland ; but as he
tarried for a few days at Ormiston, the seat of Sir Alexander
Cockburn, he was arrested by order of Beaton, and being
found guilty of heresy and many other crimes, was led to the
stake on the 2nd of March, 1546. Such was the man whose
name is revered in the "Scottish Annals," and to whom
triumphant Presbyterianism in later times has decreed all
the honours of a martyr.
Although the leading agent in the foul plot of assassination
was thus removed, the conspirators were encouraged from
First-fruits of Presbyterianism. 483
England not to relax their efforts till they had attained the
great object at which they aimed. At length, on the 2Qth
of May, 1546, Cardinal Beaton fell a victim by the daggers
of the assassins; and his mangled body, treated with every
indignity, was suspended from the windows of the castle of
St. Andrew's. Eighty years afterwards the stains of his
blood remained still fresh and indelible on the castle wall.
Thus, the mainstay of religion in Scotland, and the master
mind of national independence, received the martyr's crown.1
All writers agree that Cardinal Beaton was one of the greatest
men of whom Scotland can justly boast. Gordon, in his
" Scotichronicon," though admitting, without any proof, all
the calumnies uttered by Knox against the martyred pre-
late, yet adds: "Cardinal Beaton was one of the greatest men
Scotland ever produced, and he was certainly the most dis-
tinguished person of his time in the kingdom. He possessed
the highest abilities, great eloquence, and was of a remarkably
dignified, elegant, and winning appearance."2 And even
Froude, the panegyrist of Knox, and the avowed enemy of all
who sustained the Catholic cause in Scotland, writes, " Car-
dinal David Beaton, Archbishop of St. Andrew's, approached
nearly to the ideal of the Romanist statesmen of the age.
Devoted to the Pope and to the Papacy, he served his master
with the unvarying consistency, with the mingled passion and
calmness, which, beyond all other known institutions, the
Roman Church has the power of imparting to its votaries. . . .
His courage was as matchless as his subtlety; his accomplish^
ments as exquisite as his intellect."3
Knox had long been an intimate friend of Wishart. He
even armed himself with a sword for the protection of this
arch-conspirator, and at the time of the arrest at Ormiston
was in his company, and expressed a readiness to share his
fortunes. Wishart, however, knew too well the fate that was
in store for him, and his words to Knox have been preserved :
" Gang home to your bairns ; ane is sufficient for a
sacrifice."4
We next meet with the Father of Presbyterianism in the
castle of St. Andrew's, cheering on the assassins of the Car-
dinal. Having seized upon the castle, and made prisoner
1 Several letters of Cardinal Beaton, written a short time before his death, will
be found in Theiner's " Monumenta Vaticana Scotonim," £c., page 613, seqq. ;
also a letter of the Governor of Scotland to the Pope, announcing the Cardinal's
death. — Ibid., page 618.
2 Page 279.
3" History of England," vol. iv., page 213.
4 Froude " History of England," vol. iv., page 472.
484 7°hn Knox and the
there the son of the governor of the kingdom, they unfurled
the standard of revolt, set at defiance the royal power, and
openly avowed that they owed allegiance only to the English
monarch. It was whilst joined with these assassins in St.
Andrew's that Knox was elected chief preacher of the "con-
gregation." He was proposed for this novel Apostolate by
a degraded priest named John Rough, who solemnly assured
the other members of the "congregation" that this call was
from God. The proposal was carried by acclamation, although
Knox wept and affected to shrink from the great mission
that was tendered to him. In a few months, however, the
Regent's forces, seconded by a French fleet, compelled the
rebellious garrison to surrender; and Knox, with the other
chief conspirators, were led away to France, and sentenced to
join the galley-slaves on the banks of the Loire, near the old
city of Nantes.
Through the intercession of some leading men in Scotland,
Knox was after awhile restored to liberty, and, with the title
of chaplain to King Edward the Sixth of England, received a
benefice in Berwick. Here, violating his sacerdotal vows, he
availed himself of his "new-gospel" rights, and chose two
concubines, a mother and her daughter, to share his domestic
happiness.1
When Queen Mary ascended the throne of England, Knox's
mission in Berwick was brought abruptly to a close. He fled
penniless to Dieppe, and thence made his way to Geneva,
where Calvin now embraced with open arms all who waged
war against the Holy See. In a short time he was fortunate
enough to obtain an appointment as preacher to the British
exiles in Frankfort, but here, again, his violent language
involved him in grave troubles. Accused of high treason
against the Emperor of Germany, the magistrates of Frankfort
forbade him to preach, and Knox, ever anxious to consult
for his own safety, hastened back to the embraces of his evan^
gelical father in Geneva.
The Queen Regent of Scotland, anxious to oppose the
interests of Queen Mary of England, deemed it expedient
to conciliate the members of the "congregation," and to
smooth down, by a general toleration, the religious difficulties
which had been raised up by the new-gospel tenets. Knox
resolved to avail himself of the advantages thus offered to
his evangelical designs, and secretly returned to Scotland.
1 This fact is attested by Father Baillie, Dr. Laing, Archibald Hamilton, Nichol
Byrne, and other cotemporary writers. A MS. in Barberini Archives, Rome,
(vii. 210), presented to the Holy See during the reign of Elizabeth, speaks of
John Knox as a " Sacerdos Scotus ob incestus infamiam et alia gravissima scelera
multo antea proscriptus."
First-fruits of Presbyter ianism. 485
Public meetings were soon held, denouncing as idolatrous the
tenets of the Catholic Church ; and Knox carried his insolence
and boldness so far as to urge the Queen Regent herself to
lend a favourable ear to his harangues.
Warned by his friends of some impending danger, he again
sought refuge in Geneva. The day after his flight a sum-
mons was issued for his arrest; the accusation set forth his
many deeds of misdemeanour «and treason, and, on his non-
appearence he was condemned and burned in effigy at the
high cross of Edinburgh.
The assassins of Cardinal Beaton, however, continued
silently their intrigues. Partly by the hope of plunder, partly
by the prospect of high honours under a new government, many
of the nobility were gained over to their views. The succes-
sion of Elizabeth to the crown of England strengthened their
confidence, in aid of money and arms from across the border;
and so emboldened had they become, that when some preachers
were summoned before the court to answer for their behaviour
in Stirling, the " Congregation of the Lord" (such was the
title that was now assumed) resolved to accompany them
with an armed body-guard to preserve them, it was alleged,
from anticipated violence, but in reality to intimidate and
coerce the Queen Regent.
The plot was now mature ; the leaders of the "congrega-
tion" had all their preparations made to unsheathe the sword,
and letters' were addressed to Knox urging him to return once
more from Geneva to Scotland, to fan by his fierce harangues
the frenzy of their sworn followers. He obeyed the summons,
and arrived at Leith on the 2nd of May, 1559. Two nights
were spent in Edinburgh arranging the plans of future action,
and then he hastened on to Dundee, the head-quarters of
the conspirators. It was on the nth of May, the day
after the leading "Lords of the Congregation" had been
denounced as rebels, that Knox at length publicly entered
the pulpit of St. John's church, Perth, and by his sermon on
idolatry sounded the tocsin of rebellion and heresy, which
soon found an echo throughout all Scotland. The clergy of
the church, overwhelmed with grief at the exhibition they had
witnessed, and the sentiments they had heard uttered by the
heretical innovator, gathered around the altar to expiate his
offence, and to offer their prayers to God. The altar was
surmounted by an exquisitely carved crucifix, which was held
in great veneration by the faithful, and behind it was a rich
painting of the martyrdom of St. . Bartholomew, which was
now uncovered. No sooner, however, were the tapers lighted
around the altar, and the prayers of the church intoned, than
VOL. v. 33
486 John Knox and the
the hired agents of the "congregation," who had come from
Dundee well trained and prepared for every eventuality,
cried out "Away with this idolatry," A stone flung at the
painting of St. Bartholomew was the signal for a general
attack. The followers of Knox rushed to the altar,
assailed the priests, tore off their sacred vestments, broke the
crucifix to pieces; the altar itself was speedily demolished;
and before their fury abated, .all the paintings, vestments,
sacred utensils, and everything religious throughout the
church was destroyed.1 Yet, this was only the commence-
ment of the outbreak. Associates poured in from the surround-
ing country to aid in the unholy work. In two days all the
chapels of Perth were wrecked, the monasteries of the Fran-
ciscans, Dominicans, and Carmelites were plundered and
reduced to ruin ; even the magnificent Charter-house, the
only Carthusian establishment in the kingdom, could not be
spared, The mob cried out that "no men of Belial and slaves
of Jezabel" should be allowed to remain; rushing on to the
noble edifice they burst open the massive gates with a large
wooden cross, which they pulled out of the ground near the
walls, and in a few hours the monastery was razed to the
ground.
Knox, in his " History of the Reformation," does not con-
ceal the atrocities committed in Perth by these sacrilegious
plunderers ; but he excuses them, and calms his own con-
science, by saying that the rich stores of the monasteries pre-
sented a strong temptation to the pious burglars. He forgets
to add, however, that the monasteries of the religious orders
were the store-houses of the poor, and that their supplies were'
not intended so much for the religious, as for wayfarers, who,
whether noble or plebeian, were alike charitably housed and
entertained there.
The example of Perth was quickly followed by the Reformers
of Cupar Fife, where a Dominican Convent for Nuns, dedicated
to St. Catherine of Sienna, with its fine chapel, was ruthlessly
ransacked, and reduced to a heap of ruins. On the Qth of
June, 1559, Knox, accompanied with "the Lords of the Con-
gregation," and his rascal multitude, as he himself lovingly
styled them, went on to Crail, a small seaport only ten miles
south of St. Andrew's, which was enriched with a collegiate
church. Here the sermon on idolatry was repeated, followed by
the same results. The fishermen of Crail soon vied with Knox's
followers in the work of pillage and demolition. Altars,
images, and holy things, which had for ages been consecrated
1 Keith's " History, &c.," page 223, and "Sketches from Scenes in Scotland,"
by Colonel Murray.
First-fruits of Presbyterianism. • 487
to God, were wantonly smashed, profaned, and pilfered.1 On
the morrow, Knox, with his banditti, marched along the Fife
coast, westward to the Burgh of Anstruther, which was also
adorned with a noble church.2 The same sentiments were here
repeated by the Reformer ; and the broken rows of arches
long attested how well his work was done.
The Archbishop of St Andrews, finding that the storm ap-
proached, and having only 100 men at his command, fled from
the city on the morning of Sunday, the I ith of June. That day
Knox marched to the Cathedral of St. Andrew's, and mounting
the pulpit, repeated his denunciations against idolatry, and
compared his own mission to that of our Divine Lord, whilst
whipping the buyers and sellers out of the temple. For three
days he kept up, with unabated frantic gesticulation, a series
of such inflammatory harangues. The result is easily told —
" The fine cathedral, the building of which occupied 160 years
— the Metropolitan Church of Scotland, in which prelates,
nobles, and illustrious individuals were interred — was gutted,
and reduced to a melancholy ruin, which may be justly termed
Knox's Monument. Not only did the mob spoil
the Cathedral Church, but every church in the city, levelling
the Priory and the Monasteries of the Black and Grey Friars.
Demoniacal possession had become an epidemic."3
Alarmed at the scenes of riot which had accompanied such
fearful sacrilege, the royal troops were ordered to take the
field for the maintenance of public order, and the defence of
the lives of peaceful subjects. They inarched to Cupar Moor,
but there they were met by the army of the " Congregation,"
which now numbered three thousand fighting men, and was
commanded by Lord James Stuart, the most skilful general in
Scotland. The Queen Regent feared to risk a battle, and it
was arranged that Commissioners should be appointed to en-
quire into all matters of dispute between the " Congregation"
and the Crown.
In the meantime the fine Abbey of Scone was devoted to
destruction. Situated about two miles north of Perth, where
1 See Knox's own letters, ap. M'Crie, page 545, seqq. In a letter of
June 23, 1559, he thus describes tke manner in which he reformed (this is his
phrase) the Abbey of Lindores — " Their altars overthrew we, their idols, vestments
of idolatry, and Mass-books we burned in their presence, and ^commanded them to
cast away their monkish habits." Kirkaldy, who was an active agent in the work,
wrote on the 1st of July. 1*559, to Sir Henry Percy: " The manner of proceeding
is this: they pull down all manner of friars' houses, and some abbeys which willingly
receive not the reformation ; as to parish churches, they cleanse them of images,
•&c., and command that no Masses be said in them." — " Scotch MSS., Rolls House,
ap. Froude, vii., 116.
2 Gordon's " Scotichroaicon," page 307. 3 Ibid., page 308.
488 John Knox and the
now stands the castle of the Earls of Mansfield, this abbey
was one of the most venerable of Scotland, and in it the Scot-
tish Kings had been crowned from very early times. A mob
from Dundee now vowed its destruction ; they first plundered
and sacked it ; fire was then applied to the ruin, and thus
amidst the frantic shouts and exultations of the first Presby-
terian Elders, this historic abbey was completely destroyed.
No wonder that even Knox should deem it necessary to
apologise for this lawless outrage : " Neither the principal
lords and gentlemen," he says, " nor even I myself, was able
to stop that religious, or rather irreligious fury."
So far, however, were the " Lords of the Congregation" and
Knox from seeking to allay the irreligious fury which they had
so wantonly kindled, that the very day after the burning of
Scone, two of the leading members of the Congregation por-
ceeded with some followers to Stirling, to stir up the populace
there to pull down its religious houses. This old burgh had
some noble churches and monasteries of considerable wealth
and importance. The citizens guarded the Franciscan Church,
and it alone was saved. All the other churches .and monas-
teries,1 with the altars, paintings, statues, and sacred ornaments,
were, in the language of the times, swept with the besom of de-
struction. Abouta mile from Stirling was the magnificent Royal
Abbey of Cambuskenneth, beautifully situated on the north
bank of the Forth. In the course of one day the whole was
dismantled and reduced to a mass of ruins, except the great
tower, which is still to be seen in solitary grandeur— an impos-
ing monument amid the gorgeous surrounding scenery.2 The
only article the irreligious bandits were anxious to preserve
was the bell of the abbey. They placed it in a boat, intending
to convey it to Stirling, there to turn it to their private advan-
tage, but its weight sank the boat, and the ancient bell of
Cambuskenneth Abbey still rests in the bed of the Forth.
After three days abode at Stirling, the Presbyterian mob
set forward towards the capital, " for reformation to be made
there likewise," as Knox himself assures us. Half way they
halted at Linlithgow, to renew their deeds of robbery and van-
dalism. The Queen fled in terror from Edinburgh, and the
mob, anticipating the arrival of Knox, sacked all the monas-
teries within the city. Knox says, " We arrived the 2Qth of
June," but such devastation had been made, that " we were
the less troubled in putting order to such places." A co-
temporary record assures us" that Edinburgh presented one
1 Froude (vii.. 1 16,) adds that " the Abbeys (at Stirling), even to the very grrdens,
W^re destroyed in the presence, and by the order of Argyle and Lord James."
2 Gordon's " Scqtichronicon," page 310,
First-fruits of Presbyterian ism. 489
vast scene of riot and plunder— " A II Kirkmen's goods and
gear were spulyeit and reft fra them in every place where the
samyn culd be apprehendit; for every man, for the maist pairt,
that culd get any thing pertenying to any Kirkmen, thocht the
same as weel won gear^ Even the Chapel Royal had to share
in the common ruin. Its paintings and costly ornaments were
torn away, and cast into the fire ; whilst its superb altar ves-
sels were seized on for the private family use of the Presby-
terian Elders.
Such were the first scenes enacted in the name of Presbyte-
rian Reformation in Scotland. They rivalled and surpassed the
irreligious deeds of the English Reformers ; and the Protestant
Bishop Keith acknowledges that " the wounds thus given to
the civil, as well as ecclesiastical authority, are rather a scandal
than an ornament both to our reformation and its authors."2
One who a few years later was driven from Scotland by the
same storm, has vividly described the use to which the plun-
dered monasteries were now converted. " Truly (thus writes
Father Alexander Baillie in 1628), among all their deeds and
devices, the casting down of the churches was the most foolish
and furious work, the most shrewd and execrable turn that
even Hornok himself could have done or devised. For, beyond
all doubt, that great grandfather of Calvin, and old enemy of
mankind, not only inspired every one of those sacrilegious
hell-hounds with his flaming spirit of malice and blasphemy
as he did their forefathers, Luther and Calvin, but also was
then present, as master of work, busily beholding his servants
and hirelings, working his will, and bringing to pass his long-
desired contentment. They changed the churches, which God
himself called His house of prayer, into filthy and abominable
houses of sensual men, yea, and of irrational beasts ; as, for
instance, they made stables in Holyrood house, sheep-houses
of St. Anthony's and St. Leonard's chapels, tollbooths of St.
Giles', &c., which this day may be seen to the great grief and
sorrow of all good Christians, to the shame and confusion of
Edinburgh, and to the everlasting damnation of the doers
thereof, the seditious ministers, Knox and his accomplices.8
1 " Diurnal of Occurrents." page 269.
2 " History of Church and State in Scotland," Vol. I., page 250.
3 The decay of the Churches in England was not less striking: " Systematic irre-
verance had intruded into the churches; carelessness and irreligion had formed an
unnatural alliance with Puritanism The parish churches themselves,
those amazing monuments of early piety, built by men \\ ho themselves lived in clay
hovels, while they lavished their taste, their labour, and their wealth on the House of
God, were still dissolving into ruin. The roots we're breaking into holes; the
stained whitewash was crumbling off the damp walls, revealing the half-effaced re-
mains of the frescoed stories of the saints; the painted glass was gone from the
windows; the wind and the rain swept through the dreary aisles; while in the
churchyards swine rooted up the graves." — Froude, vol. viii., page 92.
490 John Knox and the
What would our Saviour say, if He were now entering in at
St. Giles', and looking to bare walls and pillars clad with dust
sweepings and cobwebs, instead of paintings and tapestry?
and on every side beholding the restless resorting of people,
treating of worldly affairs, some writing and making obliga-
tions, contracts, and discharges, others laying counts or telling
over sums of money, and two and two walking and talking
to and fro, some about merchandize and the laws, and too
many, alas, about drinking, yea, and perhaps worse than I can
imagine And turning him farther towards the
west end of the Church, which is divided in a high house for
the College of Justice, called the Session or Senate House,
and a lower house, called the Low Tollbooth, where the bailies
of the town sit and judge common actions and pleas in the one
end thereof, and a number of criminals enclosed in the other.
And these, I mean, if our Saviour were present to behold such
abominable desolation, that where altars were erected, and
sacrifices, with continual prayers and praises were wont to be
offered up to the Lord, in remembrance of that bloody sacrifice
of Christ on the Cross, there now nothing is heard but banning
and swearing, and every one upbraiding another. Oh, what
grief and sorrow would our Lord take at the beholding of such
profanation and sacrilege."1
What little remained untouched by the first Fathers of the
Kirk was sure to meet its fate from the spirit of pillage and
demolition which was perpetuated in their children. "To
make a dyke or fill a drain, or to erect a staring abomination
of a new mansion-house, the grey ancestral tower was trium-
phantly blown down with gunpowder. The mean barn was
supplied with its lintels and corner stones from the mouldings
of the little chapel where their forefathers worshipped. It is
but fifty years since an Edinburgh architect, employed to
repair the nave of the Cathedral at Brechin, still used as a
Parish Kirk, begged earnestly for leave to remove that useless
old tower which darkened a window. This was the Round Tower
of Brechin, of mysterious antiquity — the connecting link of
Irish and Scotch History."2
With the monasteries of Scotland were destroyed the noble
libraries, and the collection of manuscripts gathered with so
much industry, and so long faithfully guarded in these asylums
of science, as of religion. Much has been written of the sad
use to which most precious MSS. were devoted by these worse
than vandal innovators. Bale, Protestant Bishop of Ossory,
" True Information," &c., by Rev. A. Baillie, Wurtzburg, 1628.
1 " Quarterly Review," No. 89, page 44. " Scotichronicon," page 313.
First-fruits of Presbyterian ism. 49 1
the special friend of Knox, assures us that " a great number
of those who purchased these superstitious mansions, reserved
the library books, some to serve their jakes, some to scour
their candlesticks, and some to rub their boots: some they sold
to the grocers and soap-sellers, and some they sent over sea to
the bookbinders, not in small numbers, but at times whole
ships-full. I know a merchant, who shall at this time be name-
less, that bought the contents of two noble libraries for forty
shillings price — a shame it is to be spoken. This stuff hath he
occupied in the stead of grey paper for the space of more than
these ten years, and yet hath store enough for as many years
to come. A prodigious example is this, and to be abhorred
by all men who love their nation as they should do." Mr.
Wyatt, in his able essay on the Art of Illuminating, adds to
these words his own important reflection, that " cupidity and
intolerance destroyed recklessly and ignorantly. Thus, after
the dissolution of the monastic establishments, persons were
appointed to search out all missals, books of legends, and such
superstitious books, and to destroy, or sell them for waste paper,
reserving only their bindings, when, as was frequently the case,
they were ornamented with massive gold and silver, curiously
chased, and often further enriched with precious stones ; and
so industriously had these men done their work, destroying all
books in which they considered Popish tendencies to be shown
by the illumination, the use of red letters, or of the cross, or
even by the — to them — mysterious diagrams of mathematical
works, that when, some years later, Leland was appointed to
examine the monastic libraries with a view to the preservation
of what was valuable in them, he found that those who had
preceded him, had left little to reward his search."1
We have as yet barely touched on the first fruits of Knox's
irreligious mission ; we must reserve till the next " Record,"
our remarks on his subsequent career.
(To be continued?)
RUBRICAL QUESTIONS.
WE have been asked — *
Is it lawful to separate the ceremonies of baptism from the
Sacrament, when the infant is not in danger of death ?"
We cannot better answer this question than by presenting
to our readers the petition addressed by the zealous bishop of
Southwark to His Holiness, through the S. Congregation de
Propaganda Fide, and the decision of the S. Congregation of
1 " The Art of Illuminating," page 43.
492 Rubrical Questions.
the Holy Office, which was sent to him in reply, both of which
are inserted in the Acts of the Diocesan Synod of Southwark,
held on 1 5th June, 1869:—
" Most Holy Father,
" In several of the dioceses of France it is usual, even when
the cause of danger of death in the child, as recognised by the
ritual, does not appear to divide the ondoyement (or baptism
with water) from the ceremonies of the sacrament, which are
supplied even after some years have passed, with solem-
nity, especially when it is possible to assemble the relatives,
and rich or noble sponsors, and other family circumstances
present themselves. Thus, in my diocese, to the French mis-
sions of the islands of which French Catholics come, the case
often recurs of families by whom this separation is asked on
account of the custom of France, and of the necessity of
securing the soul of the child until the solemnities of the
sacrament can be added. Wherefore, wishing to obey the
mind of the church, I ask :—
"i. — Is it lawful, with the leave of the bishop, to allow to
families the separation of the ceremonies prescribed by the
ritual, when the probable death of the child does not furnish
cause for such separation ?
"2. — When children who, not being in danger of death, have
been baptized in France, are brought, must the ceremonies be
supplied after an interval, since the baptism, of several months
or even years ?
"Feria IV., die 10 Septembris, 1863.
"In congregatione generali habita in conventu S. Mariae
supra Minervam coram EE. et RR. UD. S.R.E. Cardinalibus
contra haereticam pravitatem in tota Republica Christiana
Inquisitoribus Generalibus, propositis suprascriptis dubiis, et
praehabito voto consultorum, iidem EE. et RR. D.D. rescribi
mandarunt.
"Ad. i. R.P.D. Episcopus stet Rituali Romano et consulat
Institutionem Ecclesiasticam 98, Benedict! XIV.
"Ad. 2. Affirmative, dummodo certo constet Baptismum
fuisse collatum.
" ANGELUS ARGENTI, S.R., et U.I., Notarius.
THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXTRACT FROM THE " INSTITUTIO"
OF BENEDICT XIV., REFERRED TO IN THE ABOVE
DECISION OF THE S. CONGREGATION.
"In the first place, it is unlawful to baptize a child in a
private house, without necessity. In the second place, a ne-
cessity is invented where it does not exist, the only admitted
A ncient Monasteries of Ireland. 49 3
necessity being that of the danger of the death of the child.
In the third place, the pouring of the water is detached from
the other ceremonies, which, save in the case of necessity,
cannot be done without grievous sin, as is shown by the
authors quoted by Romaguerra, ad Syn. Gerund I., iii., c. 2.
In the fourth place, a way is opened to the omission, from
which, perhaps, some amount of contempt is not always
absent, of the holy ceremonies of baptism, which were insti-
tuted by the Apostles, and which have been always observed
in the church." (A few instances are then .given of special
leave being granted in particular cases, to defer- some of the
ceremonies on account of Oriental prejudices).
MONASTICON HIBERNICUM;
OR,
A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT
MONASTERIES OF IRELAND.
[N.B. — The text of the ' 'Monasticon" is taken verbatim from Archdall: the notes
marked with numbers are added by the Editors.]
COUNTY OF ARMAGH.
805. The blessed Gormgal, the son of Dinnagaich, abbot of
Armagh, and also of Cluaineoais,w died this year.x
806. The abbot Conmach, the son of Dubdaleth, died
suddenly/
808. St. Torbach, abbot and bishop, and also reader of
divinity and a learned scribe, died on the i6th of July, when
^Now called Clounish, in the county of Monaghan. ^ffFlah. supr. id. ?ld.
(Continuation of Note 16, from page 452.)
complained of their grievance to the King, and the King, i.e., Aedh, said that he
would abide by the award of Fothadh-na-Canoine ; on which occasion Fothadh
passed the decision by which he exempted the clergy of Ireland for ever from
expeditions and nestings, when he said: —
The church of the living God, let her alone, waste her not;
Let her right be apart, as best it ever was.
Every true monk who is of a pure conscience,
For the church to which it is due let him labour like every servant.
Every soldier from that out, who is without [religious] rule or obedience,
Is permitted to aid the great Aedh, son of Niall.
This is the true rule, neither more nor less:
Let every one serve in his vocation without murmur or complaint."
494 Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
his festival is kept. He was the son of Gorman, of the family
of Kinel-torbaich, i.e., the O'Kelly's.2
The abbot Toctech Hua Tigernaich, of Tirimchlair, died
the same year.a
812. Nuadhat, of Loch Vamha,b 17 anachorite, and abbot
and bishop of Armagh, went into Connaught this year, and died
February the iQth.0
814. Died Cumascac, son of Kernaigh, and ceconomist of
Armagh.d
825. Died the abbot Flangus M'Loingseach.6
826. Eogan Monasteriensis succeeded him.1
829. Died Subneus, the son of Farnech ; he enjoyed his
dignity only two months ; he had been abbot of Darinis.g
Kethernac, the son of Dunchan, divinity lecturer and pres-
byter of Armagh, died the same year ; he was honoured with
the epithet of THE WlSE.h
331. Died Rectgal, the son of Subney, and a presbyter of
Armagh.1
832. Died the abbot Artrigius ;18 he was the son of Con-
ch ovar.k Farannan succeeded him. And this year the Danes
plundered the town thrice in one month ; they carried away
the reliques and all the other treasures, and obliged the abbot
to seek an asylum in Munster.1
834. Died the abbot Eogan.m
Colgan says, that Farannan of Rath-mic-malus was chosen
abbot this year;11 but O'Flaherty says, that there was no
change till the year 848.
835. Farannan, the abbot, happening, with his attending
clergy, to be in the church of Kildare, Fethlimium, the son of
Crimthan, violently entered that abbey, and seizing upon
Farannan, carried him and his clergy into captivity.0
Colgan tells us, that Diermit, being drove from his seat this
year, made a progress into Connaught, to establish there the
law of St. Patrick.?
2 CPFlah. sup. Tr. Th. ibid. Act. SS. p. 373. *Tr. Th. ibid. * Lough Gaun, in the
county of Longford, barony of Granard. ^O'Flah. sup. Tr. Th. ibid. Act. SS. p.
359»373- ^Tr. Th. ibid. *Id. *Id. p. 295, ^O'Flah. supr. Tr. Th. ibid. h7V.
Th.p. 295. ^Id. *Id. I0gygia p. 43. Annal Inisfal. ™0'Flah. supr. Tr. Th.
ibid. *Tr. Th.ibid. °Id. *Id.
17 The word Loch-Vamha signifies Lake of the Cave. The situation of this Lake
has not been fully identified, though it must have been well known in the days of
Colgan, who describes it as follows : — "Estin finibus Breffniae occidental sive
inferioris, quse Breffne,-Hi-Ruairc appellatur, hie lacus e vicina quadam specu,
unde et Loch-uamha, i.e., lacus specus appellatur, exoriens, et in eamdem saepe
prodigiose refluens : quod indigene observant passim contingere quando illius
regionis Dynastis, eorumque filiis mortis'imminetpericulum." — " ActaSS." p. 373.
8 Artrigius is made by Ware to succeed Mac Longsech in 822, and sit for eleven
years ; but Eogan, of Monasterboice, who had the support of Nial Caille, King
of Aileach, appears to have disturbed him in the possession of the see.
The County Armagh. 495
838. Another change happened at Armagh, Diermit Hua
Tigernaich19 being this year chosen abbot in the place of
Farannan ; but O'Flaherty will not agree to this.**
839. The Danes burned the town and all its sacred edifices
to the ground/
841. Died Muredach M'Ernaigh, ceconomist of Armagh.8
8/i/|- Died the sage and excellent Ferdomnach,20 or Dominic,
divinity lecturer of this church.*
848. The abbot Farannan was made captive at Cloncom-
ardy 21 by the Danes, and was carried, with all his family,
reliques, and books, to their ships at Limerick ; and Diermit,
called the wisest of all the doctors in Europe, was chosen to
succeed the unfortunate Farannan.u
849. A public convention was celebrated at this town by
Malachy, son of Malruan, King of Ireland, the nobility of
Lethcunn,w and by Madagan, King of Ulster, with the nobles
of that province ; they were accompanied by the abbot Dier-
mit and Fethgna, with the clergy of Armagh, and by Suarlech
of Indedhnen,22 with the clergy of Meath.x
850. Armagh was laid waste by the Danes of Linnduachuil,23
on the Sunday after Easter/ But the " Annals of Ulster "
place this event on Easter-day, in 851, and the "Annals of
Inisfall" remove it to the year 85 2.
852. The abbot Farannan died in his captivity this year, as
did Diermit his successor.2
854. Died Cathasac, the wise and very learned ceconomist
of Armagh ; he was the son of Tigernach.a
860. Died Murgesius, anachorite of Armagh.b
86 1. Died Moel Patrick,24 or Patrick, the son of Fianchon ;
he was a learned writer, and a bishop and anachorite, and was
intended for the government of this abbey.0
867. Died Flann,25 son of Ferchar; he was ceconomist of
Armagh, and abbot of Linnlere.d
«2>. Th. *Id. p. 295. *Id. *>Id. nM(Geog. Act. SS.p. 295. Usher Ogygia.
™The Northern Division of Ireland. *Tr. Th. p. 295. Id. p. 295. zld. *Id.
*Id. "Act. SS. p. 366. *Id.
19 The " Annals of Ulster" have, at 834, " The changing of abbots in Ardmacha,
viz., Forannan of Rath-Malius, in place of Dermod Ua Tiernaig."
20 S. Ferdomnach is given in the "Mart, of Tallaght " under the date loth
June.
21 Cloncomardy : not identified.
22 Indedhnen : this place is in the territory of Bregia, not far from Slane.
23 Linnduachuil, or Linn- Uachaille, now Magheralin, on the river Lagan, about
five miles north-west of Dromore, in the county of Down.
24Moel-Patrick is supposed by Colgan (Acta SS. p. 366) to be the same as
St. Patricius Ostiarius, who is styled bishop by St. ^ngusius, and abbot of Ar-
magh by the " Martyrology of Tallaght." The interpolator of William of Malmes-
bury speaks of him as having flourished as bishop in Ireland about the year 850.
^Linnlere, or Laein-Leire, now the old church of Lyn, on the east side of Lough
Ennell, in the barony of Faitullagh, county of Westmeath.
496 Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
873. Amlave, at the head of his Danes, entered Armagh,
and plundered and reduced the town to ashes, and desperately
wounded and massacred above a thousand of the unarmed
clergy and people.6
876. Moelcova, the son of Cronnmaclus, and who afterwards
was abbot, and Moctee, anachorite, scribe, and master of the
schools of Armagh, were taken prisoners by the Danes of
Lochcuan.f£
879. Anmire was abbot ; having enjoyed the dignity for the
space of nine months only, he died and was succeeded by
Moelcova, the son of Crumal.h
883. The abbot Moelcova sunk into the grave under the in-
firmities of old age.1
889. A tumult happened in this town on Whitsunday be-
tween the people of Kinel-eoguink and the Ulidians,1 which
was at length appeased by the archbishop Malgibrigid, who
compelled the Ulidians, for their irreverence to the church of
God and to St. Patrick, to give him hostages and 210 oxen ;
they hung up four of the delinquents, and the other party con-
sented to give the same satisfaction."1
890. Gluniarm, at the head of the Danes of Dublin, despoiled
this town, partly destroying the great church, and levelling to
the ground divers other edifices, and carrying away captive
710 of the inhabitants.11
892. Died the blessed Mocta, anachorite and divinity lec-
turer of Armagh ; he had been a disciple of St. Fethgna.0 26 The
same year died Cathasac, the son of Fergus, a very devout
young man, and coadjutor to the abbot ; and also Comsudius,
the son of Ectgath, a principal presbyter.p
893. The Danes of Loughfoyle ravaged this town.q
895. It suffered the same fate from the Danes of Dublin/
-896. Died the abbot Cassach.8
898. Died St. Kellach, the son of Sarguss, anachorite of Ar-
magh ;fc and the same year the barbarians of Lochfoyle
plundered the town.u
898-9. Died Breassal, the lecturer in divinity.w
904. Died Cumasach, ceconomist of Armagh ; his father
was named Alid, and his mother was Gormlathia, a daughter
of Muredach, King of Ulster.x The same year Cearnachan
M'Dowlegan committed great ravages and cruelties here ; he
*<yFlah. sup. Tr. Th. ibid. *Now called the Lough of Strangford. *Tr. Th.
^.295. ^O'Flah. supr. Tr. Th. id. lTr. Th. p. 296. * The county of Tyrone. ^ The
county of Down. ^Tr. Th. p. 296. *Id. ^OTlah.Tr. Th. ibid. *Ibid. *Id.
*Id. *Annal. Ulton. iTr. Th.ibid. *Annal. Inisfal. **> O1 Flah. sup. Tr. Th. ibid.
*/</. and id. ibid.
26 St. Fethgna is mentioned in the "Mart, of Donegal," under I2th February:
44 Fethgna, successor of Patrick, head of the religion of the Gaoidhil, A.D. 872."
The County Armagh. 497
took a member of the house and drowned him in Loughkyrre,
a pool beside the west of the town ; but 'soon after Cearnachan
was taken by Neale Glunduffe and drowned in the same
Lough, for thus violating the town dedicated to the apostle
of Ireland/
907. Cormac M'Cuillenan, King of Munster, and arch-
bishop, about this time did bequeath to the abbey 24 ounces of
gold.2
914. Armagh was destroyed by fire.a
919. Godfred Hua Himhair, King of the Danes in Dublin,
plundered the town, sparing only the churches, the Colidei,
and the sick ;b but the "Annals of Inisfall" place this event
in the year 921.
922. Died Moctee of the Isle,27 the son of Kernachan, and
presbyter of Armagh.0
924. Died Muredach, the son of Domnald, and coadjutor to
the abbotd
925. Died the abbot St. Malbrigid,28 he was sbn of Tornan."
*MlGeogh. ^Keating. a7>. Th.p.2()6. *Id. "Act. SS. p. 732. d7>. Th. p. 296. *Id.
27 Moctee, or Mochta of the Isle, i.e., Inis-Mochta, now Inishinot, in a parish of
the same name, in the barony of Slane, and county of Meath. The ruins of the
church of Inis-Mochta are still to be seen on a spot of ground containing about two
acres, which was formerly an island, and is now surrounded by low, marshy ground,
which is always flooded in winter. According to O'Clery's " Irish Calendar," the
feast of this saint was kept here on the 26th of March. St. Mochta of Louth is
venerated on 24th March and iQth August.
28 The death of this great saint is thus mentioned by the "Four Masters,"
A.D. 925 : — "St. Maelbrighde, son of Tornan, successor of Patrick, Colum Cille,
and Adamnan, head of the piety of all Ireland, and of the greater part of Europe,
" died, at a good old age, on the 22nd of February, in commemoration of whose
death it was said : —
On the eighth of the calends of noble March,
Maelbrighde, most gifted of the brave Gaedhil [died]
Since the Divine Son of God was born
Upon the earthly world in carnal shape,
Five years and twenty, nine hundred,
To the death of Maelbrighde in evil hour.
It was not a year without events ;
Premature the death of the Abbot of Ard-Macha,
Maelbrighde, head of Europe."
In the "Martyrology of Donegal," under 22nd February, we have: — "Mael-
brighde, son of Dornan, successor of Patrick and of Colum Cille ; a man full of the
grace of God, and a vessel of the wisdom and knowledge of his time. He was of
the race of Conall Gulban, son of Niall. Saerlaith, daughter of Coulebaith, son of
Baothghel, was his mother. — A.D. 925."
He was called comharb of St. Patrick, from holding the see of Armagh ; com-
arb of St. Colum Cille from having held that of Deny ; and comharb of St.
Adamnan from having governed Raphoe. — See Colgan, "Act. SS." 22nd
February,
498 Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
926. The blessed Dubhliter,29 of Kil-slepte, and presbyter of
Armagh, was put to death by the Danes of Snamhaighneagh.1
93 1. Amlaff, the son of Godefrid, with the Danes of Lough-
cuain, plundered this town on the eve of St. Martin.^
933. Conchovar, who was presumptive heir to the throne of
Oileach,h died this year, and was interred here with great
pomp.1
936. Died Joseph and Moyle Patrick, esteemed the two
sages of Ireland ; they were worthy successors of St. Patrick,
as abbots and bishops, anachorites, and scribes ; the latter of
them enjoyed the abbacy five months only.k
943. The Danes of Dublin plundered this town.1
945. Died Cathasach, the son of Guasan ; he was lecturer
of this abbey,m
948. Died Finnachta, the son of Ectigern ; he was abbot,
bishop, and lecturer of Louth, and principal proctor for the
church of Armagh, in the southern part of the province.11
950. Died Kelius, the anachorite of Armagh.0
951. Died Moelpatric, the son of Coscan, lecturer of this
abbey.?
954. Died Moenach ; he was lecturer of this abbey and
abbot of Clonard.q
955. Muredach of Mountcuilleand was deposed, and Dub-
daleth, the second abbot of that name, was chosen in his place,1"
980. Domnall O'Neill, monarch of Ireland, having retired to
this abbey, died therein very penitently.3 And Connang Hua
Flannagan, the archidnach of the hospital, died the same year,1
983. Died Muredacd Hua Flannagan, the professor of this
abbey.11
989. The people of Uriell pillaged this town, and set fire,
with effect, to the houses, church, and steeple ; Armagh be-
came at this time the most melancholy spectacle in the king-
.dom.w
994. Died Clerchen, the son of Leran, a presbyter of Ar-
magh/
995. The town, churches, and towers having been rebuilt,
were destroyed by lightning/
1004. King Brian Borombh, with his army, remained a whole
week in this town, and, on his departure, he left a collar of
-and
Y<
TId. ^O'Connor's Differt. p. 255. * TV. Tk. ibid, and p. 308. tl/^/. ^M'Geog.
or Cill-Sleibhe, now Killeavy, near Newry, in the county of Ar-
magh. StuujtJi-Aigncack, now Carlingford Lough, between the counties of Louth
•and Down.
The County Armagh, 499
gold, weighing 20 ounces, as alms, on the great altar of this
church.2
1006. Died Ermedhac, or Hieremias, a scribe of this abbey.a
ion. From the feast of All-Saints, this year, to the be-
ginning of May, a fatal sickness raged in this town; at
which time there died Kennfailed of Saul, a bishop and ana-
chorite, Maelbrigid Macangobhann, the lecturer of divinity,
Scholagius, the son of Clerchen, a famous presbyter, and in-
numerable seniors and students of the abbey.b
1012. The Danes reduced the whole town to ashes.c
1013. The bodies of King Brian Borombh, and Murchad,
his son, with the heads of Conaing, his nephew, and of Moth-
Ian, prince of the Desies, who fell in the battle of Clontarf,
were brought hither with great funeral pomp from the mon-
astery of Swords. The king was interred on the north side
of the great church, in a stone coffin by itself, and Murchad,
and the head of Conaing, in another coffin on the south. The
clergy were for twelve nights waking the corpses, with read-
ing of psalms and prayers, and chanting hymns for their souls ;
Brian's other son, Doncha, returning to Kilmainham with
great prey, sent a large treasure, with jewels and other offer-
ings to the successor of St. Patrick, and to the clergy of
Armagh.d
1015. Died Flannagan, the soa of Conang, the archidnach.6
1016. The Danes of Dublin, commanded by Sitric, the son
of Amhlaoimh, burned the town this year.f
1018. Died Cormgal, the prothonotary of this abbey.g
1 020. The whole town was consumed by fire as far as the
greater fortification, in which the library only was destroyed ;
but in the three other parts of the city, the great church, and
the church of Toen, that of Sabhall, and the old preaching
church, together with the ancient chair of the masters, the
students' apartments and books, with many houses and much
riches, were consumed.11
1022. Malachy, monarch of Ireland, was interred here with
great funeral honour.1
1027. The holy staff of Jesus was broken.k30
*Annal. InisfaL CPFlak. &Tr. Th. p. 632. *Id.p. 298. cMiGeogh. ATr.
Th. ibid, and Ann. Inisfal. *Tr.Th.ibid. l Ann. Inisfal. *Ann. Ulton, h7r.
Th. ibid. Ann. Ulton. i7r. Th. ibid. ^-Annal. omn. sanct.
30 The Baculus Jesu, here called St. Patrick's crozier, is frequently mentioned in
Irish history. St. Fiech's hymn speaks of St. Tassach, who gave the viaticum to
St. Patrick on his death-bed. In the ancient notes to Fiech's hymn we read of
him "Thessechus fuit faber aerarius S. Patricii. Fuit primus qui baculum Jesu
pretioso tegumento obcelarit." The ''Annals of Tigernach," under the year 1027,
have, "Baculum Jesu sacrilege raptum." Under 1030 another profanation of the
relic is described. In the "Annals of the Four Masters," at 1080—1143, it is
mentioned again. St. Bernard in his " Life of St. Malachy," speaks of it as
500 Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
IO28. Christian, the son of Dubhchuilinn, a principal pres-
byter of Armagh, died at Roscommon.1
1033. This year many people of the town were witnesses to
a miracle, viz., blood running from the shrines of St. Peter
and St. Paul.™
1037. Cathald, the son of Roderic, Lord of West Connaught,
came in pilgrimage to Armagh.11
1039. Died Muredach, the archidnach, he was son of
Flannagan.0
1040. Died Donchad Hua Hanchanige, the celebrated
professor.?
1041. Died Macbeth, the son of Anmire, the chief antiquary
of Armagh and of all Ireland.*1
1042. Died Moelpetrus Hua Hailechain, the divinity lec-
turer and head master of the students/
1043. Cathald died in his* retreat in this abbey.8
1046. Died Moelpatrick Hua Beloige, a man celebrated
for his many virtues, and principal professor of divinity in this
school.*
1049. Dubdaleth, the son of Moelmar, and professor of
divinity, was chosen archbishop, and was succeeded in the
divinity chair by Aid Hua Foirreth.u
1053. Died Dolgen, a principal presbyter. w
1056. June the i8th, died the blessed Aid Hua Foirreth,
the chief professor, aged 75 years.x
1060. Cumuscah O'Eoradan succeeded Dubhdaleithe in the
abbacy.y
1 06 1. Died the archidnach Conang.2
1065. The blessed Dubthach, principal confessor of Ireland
and Scotland, died here.a The same year died Colman Hua
Criochain the professor of divinity.b
1069. Died the archidnach Flannagan, the son of Aid.c
J7>. Th.ibid. mld. *Id. °Id. ?Id. *Id. *Id. *fd. *fd. "Id. w/oT. V</.
vAnnal. Inisfal. Z7r. T/i. ibid. *Id. *Id. cld.
adorned with gold and precious stones. Giraldus Cambrensis (Topogr. Hib.,
part III., c. 34): mentions that in his time the Baculus was transferred from Armagh
to Dublin by the English; and in his "Hib. Expugn." (lib. II. c. 18), he mentions
that it was William Fitz-Adelm who caused this translation to be made. Campion
in his " History of Ireland," alludes to the Baculus as being held in great venera-
tion in 1316. The " Black Book of Christ, Church" records its miraculous preser-
vation in an accident that took place in 1461. As late as 1529 it was employed
in administering oaths by the Deputy and Chancellor. In 1538 it was publicly
burned as an instrument of superstition by the so-called Reformers, about the time
when they destroyed the image of our Lady of Trim, and other objects of Catholic
veneration.
Colgan (Appendix ad acta S. Patricii, c. 21, Trias Th. p. 263) has collected all
that the old authorities have written concerning the history of this staff. See
" Book of Obits of the Trinity Church," Introd., page II, seqq.
( To be continued.)
.[N£ W SERIES^
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
AUGUST, 1869.
ON PROTESTANT ASCENDENCY AND CATHOLIC
EDUCATION IN IRELAND.
LECTURE OF HIS EMINENCE THE CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN, DELIVERED
AT A MEETING OF THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE
CATHOLIC 'UNIVERSITY, JULY, 1869.
J UST twelve months ago I had the happiness of addressing
you in this. place, and expressing the sincerest gratification at
the success which your labours had obtained during the pre-
ceding scholastic year. It is to me a great pleasure to
perform the same task again, especially as your Literary and
Historical Society has been more successful than ever since
we last met, and your labours and literary exertions call for
the most ample and warm congratulations. Indeed, in the
course of the year now closing, you have merited the approba-
tion of all the friends of the Catholic University ; you have
maintained the high character for study, literary research, and
love of religion which you had already acquired ; your
historical and philosophical discussions have been highly
appreciated by the public, and many of your professors and
other distinguished gentlemen have delivered excellent lec-
tures for you in the presence of large and applauding audiences.
Nor is it to be forgotten that in the competition for prizes,
granted to your Society by an influential and learned gentle-
man occupying a high official position, many of you have
shown an extensive and varied knowledge of history, and of
its philosophy, and have given proofs of how ably and
eloquently you can vindicate the cause of religion and truth.
All these are matters upon which I most warmly congratulate
you, hoping, at the same time, that the excellent spirit with
which you are animated will develop itself more and more as
VOL y. 34
5 O2 Protest an t A scendcncy and
time goes on, and that in each succeeding year your labours
will bear testimony to your love of literature, of country, and
religion. If these anticipations be realized, your Society will
not only reflect lustre on the Catholic University, but it will
be a source of great and solid advantages to the country, and
contribute to supply our dear fatherland with good writers,
good citizens, and good lawgivers.
When addressing you last year, I complained that the right
of nearly five millions of Irish Catholics to have for themselves
a University, recognized and assisted by the State, was disre-
garded by the public authorities, and that we were left to
our own exertions, whilst a little more than half a million
of Anglican Protestants were provided by the public with
one of the richest Universities in the world — possessed of
200,000 acres of land, and other sources of revenue, and
governed by a Provost, Fellows, and Council, all exclusively
Protestant.
The injustice we complained of at that time still continues
to exist, and the promises which for a while were held out by
some of the leading Conservative statesmen, have all ended in
nothing. Having learned from the Scripture that we are not
to put our trust in princes, the children of men, in whom there
is no salvation, and knowing, from the experience of the past,
that the cup of hope has often been dashed from the lips of
the Irish Catholics, when great advantages were held out
to them, we were not surprised at the result of last year's
expectations, nor did we look on the rejection of our claims
as an impediment in the way of further demands, or as a reason
why we should abandon our rights. We ask for nothing but
equality with others. We ask for Catholic education for
Catholics ; and being confident that this is a right, and that it
is necessary for the preservation of our faith, we can consent
to nothing less. No other measure will satisfy us. But, at
the same time, we do not pretend to interfere with our fellow-
subjects, or to prevent them from giving whatever education
they wish to their own children. Indeed, our claims and the
claims of the Catholic University are so moderate, and so
conformable to justice and equity, that in the end they must
be completely triumphant.
Though, as I said, the hopes with which we were buoyed
up twelve months ago have not been realized, still everyone
must admit that within that short space of time our cause has
made great progress, and that we have now every reason to
expect that very soon this University, and Catholic education
in general, will obtain the recognition to which they have a
right, and that Catholics will be put on a footing of equality
Catholic Education in Ireland. 503
with all other classes of their fellow-citizens. That this has
been the tendency of the events of the last few months no one
can deny. Have not the people of this great empire declared
at the hustings that religious equality must be introduced
into Ireland ? Has not the House of Commons declared by
an immense majority that the ascendency which was forced
on us by the sword, confiscation, and penal laws, and which
has inflicted unheard-of evils on this country during three
centuries, shall prevail no longer ? It may be, indeed, that
the House of Lords will not listen to the voice of the country,
and that the Church Bill, prepared by the most liberal and
enlightened statesmen of the day, and adopted by the
Commons, will be mutilated in the Upper House, and ren-
dered unworthy of acceptance ; but still, it cannot be denied
that a great blow has been struck at the foundations of
intolerance and exclusiveness, and that the whole fabric of
ascendency is reduced to such a tottering state that, even if
we be disappointed this year, our wishes must be satisfied in a
short time. We may add that, perhaps, a little delay will
bring us a fuller measure of justice than the higher branch of
the legislature is disposed to grant us at present. But, how-
ever that may be, one thing is now certain, that the statesmen
in power and the people of England have made up their minds
to repair the evils inflicted on Ireland during centuries of
penal laws and persecution by an unholy ascendency, and to
grant us at length that full meed of justice for which we have
so long sought in vain.
But it is not my intention to treat about the Church Bill
this evening, or to delay you with observations regarding a
question which is familiar to you all. I shall rather call your
attention to the effects which that spirit of ascendency, which
shall soon be banished from the country, has produced on
Catholic education in Ireland during the last three centuries.
I cannot enter fully into the subject, as I do not wish to
detain you too long ; but I trust the few facts I shall refer to
will show that, if education is not as advanced as it ought to
be amongst the majority of the people of Ireland, the fault is
not to be attributed to any want of love of learning, or of
exertions to promote it on their part, but to the despotism
with which the votaries of the dominant faction crushed every
attempt that was made to promote enlightenment, unless it
were made hostile to the ancient faith of the country, and
decreed to allow no instruction to be given except in accor-
dance with their own opinions and views.
To arrive at the origin of that ascendency by which a
small minority endeavoured to force its religious views, by
504 Protestant Ascendency and
violence and persecution, on the great majority of the people
of Ireland — in fact, to compel those who were in communion
with all the Catholics of the world to break off that connexion
and to renounce the cherished doctrines that had been
handed down to them from the days of St. Patrick, we must
go back to the first half of the sixteenth century.
After having been for many years lord of Ireland — after
having published works against Luther, and acquired the title
of defender of the faith — after having professed himself
always an obedient, obsequious child of the Catholic Church,
Henry VIII. allowed his passions to darken his intellect, and
his desire of unlawful pleasures to undermine his faith. He
did not, indeed, shake off altogether his allegiance to the
church, until he had made many attempts to obtain its sanc-
tion for his corrupt designs. Many time's he wrote to Rome,
promising full submission and allegiance, if only the Holy See
would yield to his foul passion, and grant the divorce which
he so much desired. However, in all that regarded the
violation of the law of God, and of the duties of States as
well as of individuals, non possumus was the guiding principle
of Rome then as it is at the present day. The petition of
Henry was rejected, and in consequence the ruthless decree
was soon issued, devoting to ruin and desecration all that was
noble in the monuments of piety and literature in our country.
Even the agents of the English monarch prayed that some of
the chief schools and monasteries might be allowed to remain
in this kingdom ; and, on the 2 1st of May, 1539, a request
was forwarded to the king, signed by the Lord Deputy Gray
and the members of the Privy Council of Ireland, that six
such institutions should be spared, viz. : — St. Mary's Abbey,
and Christ Church, in this city ; the Convent of Grace-Dieu,
in the County of Dublin ; and the Monasteries of Connall,
Kenlis, and Jerpoint, in Kilflare and Kilkenny, whilst the
following motive was assigned why they thus petitioned the
royal clemency: — "For in these houses commonly, and in
others such like, young men and children, both gentle-
men's children and others (i.e., the poor), are brought up
in virtue and learning." — "State papers, Henry VI 1 1.," vol.
3, P- 130.
All such pleas, however, were fruitless ; about one hundred
and twenty monasteries and schools were suppressed by the
king's order, and those very individuals who signed the peti-
tion, just now referred to, were . soon found vicing with each
other in seeking a share of the spoil. The same State papers
present to us two letters of the Protestant Archbishop of
Dublin, praying first for the very poor house (as he describes
Catholic Education in Ireland. 505
it) of the Friars at Neiv Abbey, near Kilcullen, and subse-
quently soliciting a* personal grant of the famous Nunnery of
Grace-dieu, near Lusk.
This loss of existing schools, and the suppression of the
monasteries, inflicted a fatal blow on learning : had not these
institutions been destroyed, their inmates might have rivalled
the monks of the congregations of St. Maur or Monte Casino
and others in France, Italy, and Germany, and given^to the
world treasures of history and literature, and acquired a name
for Ireland amongst the learned nations of the world. Even
as it was, some of our persecuted monks — exiles, and living
on the bounty of strangers — did a great deal to keep up the
reputation of our country, and were it not for the labours of
the Colgans, Harolds, and Waddings, and the monks of
Donegal, little would now be known of our ancient history, or
of the annals of our Church. If, in want and exile, these men
were able to do so much, what would they not have done had
they been allowed to remain in their peaceful abodes, and in
possession of the literary treasures which they had inherited
from their fathers ?
During the reign of Elizabeth Protestant schools were set
up in many parts of the kingdom, for the express purpose of
proselytism, and Trinity College was founded as a bulwark of
Protestantism, a rallying point for all who might wish to assail
the Catholic Church, and a source of emolument to those who
would abandon the faith of their fathers. The illustrious
Peter Lombard, writing in the year 1600 — that is to say, only
a few years after the establishment of the University — thus
laments the new assault made on our holy Church : — x
" It was well known that the Irish revered men of learning
and eloquence ; it was therefore resolved, the more effectually
to inculcate the royal tenets, to send to Ireland some ministers
who were remarkable in England and Scotland for their
ability and eloquence To provide instruction
for the nation, and to display a greater earnestness in its
regard than had hitherto been shown, for often had the
erection of a university been in vain solicited from the crown ;
a most ample and splendid college was erected a few years
ago in the vicinity of Dublin by royal decree, but at the
expense of the inhabitants, in which all liberal arts are to be
taught solely by heretical teachers. As such heretical
masters, however, could not be had in Ireland, they were sent
thither from England ; and, the better to establish and pro-
pagate their tenets, they received the mission to preach the
Protestant doctrines in Dublin, and were commanded, more-
>, edited by Rev. Dr. Moran.iS6S.
506 Protestant Ascendency and
over, to exact the oath of the Queen's supremacy in religious
matters from all the students whom "they admitted to
instruction."
The site on which this Protestant University was erected
was Catholic religious property, confiscated in the reign of
Henry VIII. It was rapidly enriched with other Catholic
lands, till it became possessed of the property of about
200,000 acres which it now holds : building grants for its
enlargement were taxed upon the citizens of Dublin or granted
by the Crown :l rich prizes were offered to those who would
renounce their faith and frequent its halls ; and several
benefices of our ancient Church were also, by royal grant,
placed at its disposal.
Alas ! the rewards thus held out have often proved too
fatal to Catholics, many of whom renounced their faith in
order to obtain wealth or honours, and by apostacy opened
their way to preferment in the dominant church, whilst others
became lukewarm or indifferent Catholics, and acted as if
they cared little for the doctrines and practices of the
Church.
This matter is referred to in the evidence given in the
Fourth Report to Parliament of the Commissioners of Educa-
tion in Ireland, published in the year 1827. When examined,
the Rev. Mr. Stevelly, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the
Belfast Academy, stated that " many zealous clergymen of
the Established Church could be named, who had been, when
they entered Trinity College, Roman Catholics." Now,
observe with what simplicity and candour the Rev. gentleman
explains this fact. " In Trinity College, Presbyterians and
Roman Catholics," says he, " are admitted without signature ;
and they afterwards find that the opinions of the Church of
England are not so very discordant with their own views as
they were led to stippose ; they find that there are very profit-
able employments which they can get into, and they begin to
question whether they might not attend to those without hurt-
ing their consciences'.'
Now, may we not ask, is it not highly probable that the
same interested motives, the same desire of profitable employ-
ment referred to by the learned professor, may still produce
the same effect, and persuade many indigent or ambitious
students that they could abandon the faith of their fathers
without hurting conscience? However that may be, and
whether such motives have been operative or not, it is certain
1 According to the Calendar of Trinity College, various Parliamentary grants
for building were made to that College in the I7th century, amounting to an im-
mense sum.
Catholic Education in Ireland. 507
that, not to go farther back than the present century, many
Catholic students of Trinity College — the Phelans and
O'Sullivans, the Griffins, and other young men of talent —
abandoned the Church of their forefathers, and took their
place among the leading dignitaries and defenders of the
established ascendency.
Whilst thus nothing was left undone to make the only
University in the kingdom a bulwark of Protestantism, every
effort was made to destroy the institutes for Catholic instruc-
tion, and to extinguish the last spark of science among our
people. The Catholic clergy, however, on their part laboured
strenuously and successfully to preserve, pure and untainted,
the springs of human knowledge for their faithful flocks. In
1564, a Papal Brief was addressed to the newly-consecrated
Primate, Dr. Richard Creagh, which, whilst declaring that
schools were necessary for the maintenance of due order, and
for the preservation of the Catholic faith, empowered him to
erect such schools wheresoever he should deem fit throughout
Ireland, and granted to them the rights and privileges of a
University. Before, however, this great prelate could achieve
his cherished work, he fell a victim to the persecution which
then raged with unparalleled ferocity throughout our island,
and by his heroism and sufferings during a long imprisonment,
as well - as by his death, which he suffered in the cause of
Catholic faith, merited to be numbered among the most illus-
trious martyr-bishops of our Church.
Dr. Creagh had taught in the school of Limerick before
his elevation to the episcopate. This school was presided over
by the Rev. Peter White, and was reckoned among the most
remarkable in the kingdom. Its president was Dean of Lime-
rick, but, as Anthony a Wood assures us, he was deprived of
his deanery for refusing to renounce the Catholic faith. Being
forced to fly from Limerick, he repaired to Kilkenny, and for
many years students flocked thither from every part of Ireland
to be instructed by such a master in the various branches of
science.
Similar Catholic schools were maintained in Cork, Water-
ford, and the other chief towns. Those of Waterford were
brought specially before the public by the complaint of the
Protestant schoolmaster, who, having toiled there for some
time, found that his labour was in vain, and thus wrote to the
Protestant Archbishop of Armagh in 1585: — "Since my
coming hither I had not above thirty scholars, which was no
small grief to me, especially as I was sent hither by you : and
the cause why these received me was rather for fear than for
any desire the people had to have their children instructed in
508 Protestant Ascendency and
the fear of God and knowledge of good letters, which I soon
perceived by them ; for within one month most of them took
away their children from me, and sent them to other tutors in
the town that were -professed Papists."
In most of the schools which were thus maintained for
Catholic youth, the clergy were the only teachers ; and some-
times, too, the bishops had themselves to assume that task.
Thus Dr. Nicholas Skerrett, Archbishop of Tuam, though
pursued by the agents of Elizabeth, privately taught school
in Galway, till compelled tc fly from the kingdom about the
year 1584. Thus, too, the great Bishop of Leighlin, Dr.
Leverous, to whom the Geraldine family was so deeply
indebted, when driven from his see for refusing the oath of
supremacy, taught for many years an humble school in the
neighbourhood of Naas.
It may not be uninteresting to mention what course was
taken by the Government when it discovered the existence of
such schools.
The Members of the Regal Visitation of A.D. 1615 thus
report to the Government : —
"We found in Gal way "a public schoolmaster, named Lynch,
placed there by the citizens, who had great numbers of
scholars, not only out of that province, but also out of the
Pale, and other parts, resorting to him. We had daily proof,
during our continuance in that city, how well his scholars
profited under him, by verses and orations which they pre-
sented to us. We sent for that schoolmaster, and seriously
advised him to conform to the Established religion, and, not
prevailing with our advice, we enjoined him to forbear teach-
ing ; and I, the Chancellor, did take a recognizance of him
and some others of his kinsmen in that city, to the amount of
^"400 sterling for his Majesty's use, that from thenceforth he
should forbear to teach any more without the special licence
of the Lord Deputy. And as Galway is a far more public
and convenient place for the keeping of a school than Tuam
is, we have ordered that Mr. Lally (the Protestant schoolmaster}
shall, at Michaelmas next, begin to teach publicly in that
city." (Publications of I. A. S. for 1846, page 215.;
From this report we learn that the Galway School was well
attended by the citizens ; that its scholars were remarkable
for their proficiency ; and that there was only one fault — the
refusal of the master to take the oath of royal supremacy ;
this, however, sufficed to have him removed from the post
which he so efficiently held, and to deprive the Catholics of
Galway of the blessings of education, of which they had
hitherto so eagerly availed themselves.
Catholic Education in Ireland. 509
In Dublin, the enmity of the Government to Catholic edu-
cation was not less manifest. The Most Rev. Dr. Matthews,
Archbishop of this See, thus, in the year 1623, bitterly
laments the sad privations which this phase of persecution
entailed upon the youth of Ireland : " It is interdicted to Ca-
tholics (he writes) to teach school either in public or in private ;
whilst heretical masters are hired in every diocese, and are
paid from the revenues of our ancient benefices to pervert our
youth, and to imbue them with heresy ; in fact, heresy has
obstructed every avenue by which our youth can receive
instruction in this kingdom, and by severe penalties and
rigorous inquisitions seeks to render it impossible for any
Catholic teacher to remain amongst us ; and having erected a
university in the city of Dublin, every artifice is made use of
to attract our children to its schools ; and, indeed, no
scheme could be devised more iniquitous than this for the
corruption of our youth." — ("Lives of the Archbishops of
Dublin," by Dr. Moran, vol. i.)
Shortly after the date of this letter of Dr. Matthews, a decla-
ration was published by the bishops of the ascendency, which
shows how hostile they were not only to the interests, but also
to the existence of the majority of the population of Ireland.
About the year 1826, the Catholics, having given proof of their
attachment to the King, and of their readiness to espouse his
cause against his enemies, it was reported that his Majesty
would propose some relaxation of the penal laws in their
favour. To prevent this act of royal clemency, the principal
Protestant dignitaries of Ireland, with the celebrated Usher at
their head, published a document, in which they declared that
" the religion of the Papists is superstitious and idolatrous ;
their faith and doctrine erroneous and heretical ; their church,
in respect to both, apostatical. To give them, therefore, a
toleration, or to consent that they may freely exercise their
religion, and profess their faith and doctrine, is a grievous
sin." — (See Mant's " Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. i.)
A more bigoted and intolerant declaration was never pub^
lished. And observe that it emanated from men who boasted
of their spirit of liberality, and hypocritically pretended to
grant freedom of conscience to all. Observe, also, that it was
directed, not against a new sect endeavouring to creep into
the country, but against the masses of the people, and against
a religion established in the land for more than one thousand
years, and deeply rooted in the affections of the inhabitants.
This was a strange way of emancipating the mind, and pro
moting liberty of thought and the progress of education. Yet,
if we are to believe some of the episcopal speakers in Parlia-
5 io Protestant Ascendency and
ment, the Catholics of Ireland firmly believe that the digni-
taries of the Establishment always have been their best
friends and protectors, and the poor people so well protected
by Protestant Episcopal declarations, are sorely afflicted at
the evils now hanging over their kind benefactors.
A momentary period of peace and calm seemed to smile
upon our suffering country in 1629. Without delay Catholic
schools were opened, and one especially was erected in Cook-
street, which, with its adjoining chapel, attracted the public
gaze. Launcelot Bulkely, the then Protestant Archbishop of
Dublin, urged upon the Government the necessity of im-
mediately suppressing such hotbeds of Popery. His prayer
was granted; and whilst the faithful were assembled at Mass,
on St. Stephen's Day, 1629, a troop of Musketeers, headed by
Dr. Bulkely in person, surrounded the Cook-street chapel,
dispersed the congregation, profaned the altar, hewed down
the image of St. Francis which adorned it, tore to shreds the
sacred vestments and other religious ornaments, and levelled
both school and chapel to the ground. I may add that these
sacrilegious plunderers were, on their return, assailed by the
women of Cook-street, who, with sticks and stones, inflicted
due punishment on them, and compelled their Episcopal
leader to seek for safety in flight. I might refer to many
Catholic writers for the proof of the facts I have now narrated,
but I wish rather to refer you to the Preface of the " List of
Graduates of Trinity College," by Dr. Todd, the last work
which proceeded from the pen of that distinguished scholar,
whose lamented demise has cast a gloom over all who prize
the remnants of Celtic literature, and whose remains were
this morning, to the grief of all our citizens, borne to their
long resting-place. In a report regarding the Diocese of
Dublin, presented to the Privy Council in 1630, Dr. Bulkely
particularizes several Catholic schools, both in the city and in
the country parts of this diocese, with the names of the indi-
viduals, generally members of the parochial clergy, who were
in charge of them. The Government, however, seem to have
feared a renewal of the scenes of Cook-street, and no further
attention was given to the intolerant petition of the Protestant
Archbishop.
During the few years that the Confederates of 1641 enjoyed
a partial triumph, a new spirit of study was awakened, and
schools were erected in the principal towns. In Kilkenny,
the head-quarters of the Confederation, a flourishing college
was established, where every encouragement was given to the
pursuit of science, and cotemporary writers assure us that
even strangers and enemies expressed their admiration at
Catholic Edtication in Ireland. 5 1 r
the proficiency of its scholars in every branch of polite
literature.
Whilst the Puritan rage of Cromwell and his followers laid
waste our country, it was only in the bogs or on the mountain
tops that our Catholic people could find a home. Yet such
was their thirst for knowledge, that schools sprung up even in
the bogs and on the mountains, for the instruction of Catholic
youth. Of one zealous Priest, the Rev. James Ford, it is
recorded in particular, that he chose a little spot of more than
ordinary consistency in the centre of a large bog, and there
erected a wooden hut which served as a school, and numbers
of children from the surrounding districts flocked to him for
instruction.
The restoration of the Stuarts brought with it new trials for
the Irish Catholics. Those who had fought the battles of the
royal cause in Ireland or on the continent, were allowed to
pine away in penury and neglect, whilst honours were lavished
on the Cromwellian enemies, who were allowed to retain the
ill-gotten lands of the royalists. New laws of a most vexa-
tious kind were even enacted against the Irish Catholics. For
instance, if a crime were committed in any district, whether
by friend or foe, all the Catholics of that district, with their
priests, were to be arrested, and transported to the Barbadoes,
if the culprit was not brought to justice within fifteen days.
It would be difficult to encourage the pursuits of science
whilst such laws weighed down the energies of our people.
And yet, whilst they were in full force, we meet with the great
Archbishop of Armagh, Oliver Plunket, whose venerable name
still lives in the memory of Irish Catholics, struggling to erect
colleges and opening schools, to bring the pursuit of know-
ledge within the reach of his faithful flock.
Writing to Rome, on the 22nd of November, 1672, he
states that there were in his schools at Drogheda, 150 boys,
who were, for the most part, children of the Catholic nobility
and gentry, with forty children of the Protestant gentry. He
had many difficulties to contend against, but, he adds : " As
the schools have lasted these two years and four months, so
we may hope that God, through the intercession of St.
Ignatius, will grant them a longer duration. But be this as it
may, whilst the wind is favourable, we must unfurl the sails,
and pursue our course, and when it becomes contrary or
tempestuous we shall lower them, and seek for shelter in some
small port concealed by a rock or a mountain." In the same
letter Dr. Plunket writes : — " You .may imagine what envy it
creates in the Protestant teachers and clergy to see the
Protestant children coming to my school.1' Those schools,
5 1 2 Protestant Ascendency and
however, were not long allowed to diffuse the blessings of
education among his flock. Before the close of 1673 they
were levelled to the ground by order of the Government ; and
the good Primate, writing on the 1 5th of December in that
year, cries out in- anguish of heart — " what will the Catholic
youth now do who are entrusted to my care ?" I may add
one golden maxim from the letter of this great Archbishop,
a maxim which should never be out of mind when treating
of this important question of education. " Catholic parents,"
he says, " who send their children to Protestant masters,
expose their faith to great danger ; for you can well under-
stand how easy it is for young shoots to receive a wrong bend,
unless they be perfectly trained from their first growth."
With the Orange dynasty, the gloomy era of persecution
seemed to settle down immoveably on our poor country.
Penal laws were passed in quick succession, branding our
religion as treason, and annulling every right, social or re-
ligious, of the Irish Catholics. The penal laws were indeed
perfect in their own evil way. Burke has well remarked that
never was so complete a machinery devised by the perverted
ingenuity of man for suppressing the energies of a suffering
nation ; and another learned writer, the Very Rev. Dr. Maziere
Brady, has added the reflection that although the Bishops
of the Established Church were at this time all-powerful in the
Upper House of the Irish Parliament, yet scarcely ever was a
voice raised by them to alleviate the lot of their persecuted
fellow-subjects ; on the contrary, they were continually found
forging new fetters for our Catholic people, and urging on the
Government to give no toleration to the religion of our
fathers. Under this regime it was contrary to law for a Ca-
tholic to keep a school, and it was equally so for children to
attend at such a school. At the same time it was penal for
Catholic youth to seek education beyond the seas, and thus,
so far as the law of the land could reach, it was made impos-
sible for Irish youth to drink in, except at poisoned sources,
that knowledge for which they yearned.
In the year 1697, a bill was proposed in the House of
Lords, "for suppression of the Irish language, and encouraging
the Irish to learn English :" fourteen members of the
Episcopal Bench were present, and voted for this iniquitous
measure, which, aiming at the destruction of one of the most
ancient languages of Europe, has rendered so difficult the
labours of the many great scholars who are endeavouring to
lay open the sealed fountains of Celtic literature.
In some instances, Protestant education was forced upon
the children of Irish Catholics. Thus in 1716, it was enacted,
Catholic Education in Ireland. 5 1 3
" that the parsons and churchwardens in every parish should,
together with a justice of the peace, bind any child found
begging, or any other child with consent of the parent, to a
Protestant master, until his age of twenty-one, or to a Pro-
testant tradesman, until his age of twenty-four years." It is
added that if the child complained of ill-treatment, and that
such complaint was found just, then the child should be
" transferred to another Protestant master ;" and should the
child quit his Protestant master, and seek for safety in flight,
any person, even the parent, harbouring such a child, incurred
a penalty of £40, to be paid to the Protestant master.
On the 6th of November, 1731, an order was made by the
Irish House of Lords that Walter Taylor, Mayor of the town
of Galway, should furnish an account of all the private mass-
houses and Popish chapels, and all commonly reputed nunne-
ries and friaries, and what Popish schools were within that
town. In his report, the mayor states, that on the information
of Mr. Garnett, the Protestant master of the Free school, he
had given him a warrant for the arrest of Gregory French, a
Popish schoolmaster, keeping a Latin school ; and similar
arrests were made of eight others, whose names are given, and
who are described as " Popish schoolmasters, and teachers of
reading, writing, and arithmetic." — (Commons' Journals, vol.
3, page 170.,) The return thus presented by the mayor
elicited from that august senate a resolution to the effect, that
"the insolence of the Papists throughout the nation is
very great;" because, forsooth, they had the audacity to
teach Latin, and instruct children in the first rudiments of
knowledge.
At length, in 1733, a boon was announced to the Catholics
of Ireland. The fountains of science should no longer be
sealed in their regard ; and ample schools were to be provided
for them, through the munificence of the State. These were
the so-called Charter Schools, and it may be well to examine
somewhat in. detail their origin, that we may appreciate the
difficulties with which Ireland had to contend in those times
whilst seeking an untainted education for its Catholic youth.
All the Protestant Archbishops and Bishops in Ireland
signed a Petition to the Crown, asking for these schools, but
they took care to declare at the same time, that they desired
them for the express purpose of Proselytism. The preamble
of their petition is as follows : —
HUMBLY SHEWETH, — "That in many parts of Ireland
there are great tracts of mountairiy and coarse land, of ten,
twenty, or thirty miles in length, and of a considerable
breadth, almost universally inhabited by Papists : and that in
5 1 4 Prot&tan t A scemiency mid
most parts of the same, and more especially in the Provinces
of Leinster, Munster, and Connaught, the Papists far exceed
the Protestants of all sorts in number.
" That the generality of the Popish natives appear to have
very little sense of knowledge of religion, but what they
implicitly take from their clergy (to whose guidance, in such
matters, they seem wholly to give themselves up), and thereby
are kept not only in gross ignorance, but in great disaffection
to your sacred Majesty and Government ; so that, if some
effectual method be not made use of, to instruct these great
numbers in the principles of religion and loyalty, there seems
to be very little prospect but that superstition, idolatry, and
disaffection to your Majesty and to your royal posterity, will,
from generation to generation, be propagated amongst them."
Primate Boulter, who headed this memorial, and who at this
period ruled both Church and State in Ireland, has left the
following record of the motives which prompted him to join
in this movement of vaunted liberality to the Irish Catho-
lics : — " The great number of Papists in the country (he thus
writes), and the obstinancy with which they adhere to their
own religion, occasions our trying what may be done with
their children to bring them over to our Church. I can assure
you that the Papists are here so numerous, that it highly
concerns us in point of interest to try all possible means to
bring them and theirs over to our religion ; and one of the
likeliest methods we can think of is, if possible, instructing and
converting the young generation ; for, instead of converting
those that are adult, we are daily losing many of our meaner
people, who go off to Popery."1 Thus the real object of these
schools was not to confer the advantages of education upon
our people, but to extend the machinery of proselytism, and
to support the Established Church, which, to our own days,
has been the source of every evil to our poor country.
The results of these schools may be told in a few words.
They were supported by the State for one hundred years, at
the average expense' of several thousand pounds per annum.
Everything that power or patronage could achieve was done
to insure their success. Under George II., it was commanded
that all vagrant children should be arrested and sent to swell
the numbers in their schools : still they bore with them the
curse of barrenness. The celebrated philanthropist, Howard,
visited them in 1764, and again in 1767, and laid the result of
his observations before a Parliamentary Committee. He
states in his report that the charter-school children were
"ill-fed, ill-taught, sickly, pale, miserable objects, a disgrace
1 " Letters," vol. ii. page 9.
Catholic Education in Ireland. 5 1 5
to all society." Twenty years later (in 1787), another report
was presented to Parliament by Sir J. Fitzpatrick, who
declares that in the twenty-eight charter-schools which he had
visited, "the schoolrooms were dilapidated and dirty, and the
children were barbarously treated by their masters, being
puny, filthy, ill-clothed, without linen, and indecent to look
upon." In the beginning of the present century, Protestant
children had to be admitted to these schools, as few Catholics
could be induced to enter them, yet even so they could
yield no fruit. The official reports, which were now more
frequent, continued to disclose a most lamentable' state of
things; and as late as 1817, we are told that learning and
religion were wholly neglected, and that the children were " in
hunger, nakedness, filth, and ignorance."
Indeed, things came to so disgraceful a state that Parlia-
ment withdrew its grants, and all the charter-schools, with the
exception of some few that had acquired private endowments,
were left to fall into ruins, thus showing how impotent were
the plans of Primate Boulter and his associates to root out
Catholicity, and to establish their own system of ascendency
in this country.
The establishment of charter-schools was one of the last
open attempts made with the declared intention of forcing the
Catholics of Ireland to conform to the established form of
worship. According as the times became more liberal,
violence was abandoned, but unhappily other means were
resorted to in order to obtain, by cunning or stratagem, what
force and persecution had not been able to effect. I regret
that the lateness of the hour will not allow me to describe at
any length the efforts which were made in this century to
maintain the established ascendency by educational schemes.
The first of these schemes was worked out by the so-called
Kildare-street Society, which, with the aid of government
grants, undertook to educate Catholics, promising not to
interfere with their religion. But the cloven foot soon showed
itself; attempts were made to make Catholic children read
the Bible under Protestant or unauthorised teachers ; books
and tracts of an offensive nature were introduced into the
schools and spread among Catholics,1 and nothing was left
undone to shake the authority of the Church, and to seduce
the people from the faith of their fathers. These efforts were
not successful : as soon as the people penetrated the designs
1 For a specimen of Anti-Catholic Tracts, slee the catalogue of the so-called
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, which contains a list of books of
a most offensive and anti-Christain character. The books of this Society, or
some of them, are used in the schools of the Church Education Society.
5 1 6 Protestant Ascendency and
of their enemies, there was a ge leral outburst of indignation
through the country ; the Catholic laity, headed by O'Connell,
and the parochial clergy and the bishops, all raised their
voices against the Kildare-street Society ; and, after not a long
but a sharp struggle, Parliament withdrew its grants, and left
that body to drag on a miserable existence scarcely noticed
in the country.
The next and most formidable attempt upon the religion of
this country was through the system of what is called mixed
education, carried on in the National Schools and Queen's
Colleges.- The project of rooting out Catholicity by force or
by fraud had failed. What was * now to be done ? Were
Catholics to be allowed for themselves schools assisted by the
State ? That, indeed, would have been the fair solution of
the difficulty. A man of a fair and liberal mind would have
said, " Let Catholics have their own schools — let Protestants
have also schools for themselves. Let each denomination
have the care of its own children, and let all live in peace."
Sed aliter superis visum; the new plan for Ireland was that
all children— Catholics, Protestants, Presbyterians, Quakers,
Methodists, and Unitarians — should be brought together in
the same school — that no religious instruction, properly
so-called, should be given in class hours, and that the school-
books should contain nothing religious, excepting those things
in which all Christians agree. The religion of the masters
was to be a matter of indifference, the patrons of the schools
were to be at liberty to employ Catholic, Protestant, Presby-
terian teachers, or teachers of any other religion, or, perhaps,
of no religion at all.
It would be very easy to show how unfavourable this system
is to Catholics. In the first place, the Catholic Church
teaches many vital doctrines which are rejected by the
various sects — for example, the real presence in the Blessed
Eucharist, the power of remitting sin, the infallibity of the
Church, the primacy of the Pope, and others of equal impor-
tance. It also commands us to observe many precepts ; we
are obliged to hear Mass, to go to confession, to fast, and to
obey the precepts of the Church. Now, where can a poor
Catholic child, whose parents are toiling from morning till
night, and have neither time nor capacity to teach, where can
he learn those doctrines and practices of his Church, if he be
not allowed to learn them in school ?
May not also a Protestant teacher, even without wishing to
do so, whilst explaining the doctrines of common Chris-
tianity, teach many things contrary to Catholic faith ? More-
over, when a boy sees that his Protestant teacher does not
Catholic Education in Ireland, 5 17
make the sign of the Cross, or go to Mass, or fast, or go to
confession, will he not be inclined to say : These practices,
which are difficult to flesh and blood, are not observed by my
master, who is a good man. I do not pretend to be more
perfect than he is ; the disciple should not be above his
master; therefore, I will not submit to practices which he
repudiates.
Whilst the example of the masters is calculated to produce
a bad effect, the books compiled for the mixed system neces-
sarily have the same tendency. Everything Catholic is
banished from them, and poor children, who frequently do not
go beyond their class-books, and scarcely ever read any other
books with ease, may remain in ignorance of the most neces-
sary Catholic doctrines and practices, and even may be
induced to think that there is nothing true or valuable that is
not contained in books that come to them, recommended by
the highest authorities, and extolled by the Commissioners of
National education. Besides, books from which you are
obliged to banish every Catholic sentiment cannot be compiled
by true Catholics, and thus a great impediment is put in the
way of Catholic writers ; books for National Schools they
cannot write as Catholics ; and they cannot publish Catholic
books on their own account, because the monopoly for school-
books enjoyed by the National Board forbids them to hope
for any sale of their own compilations.
Indeed, the introduction of the mixed system into Ireland
has been the means of preventing the growth of Catholic lite-
rature, and has enabled Protestant writers to make large
fortunes by obtaining a sort of monopoly for some insignifi-
cant works which will not be remembered after a dozen years.
No one knew better than Dr. Whately, the late Protestant
Archbishop of Dublin, the tendency of the mixed system, of
which he may be considered the great founder in Ireland. In
the published reports of the National Board, this dignitary
continually assures the Catholics of Ireland that the national
system contains nothing dangerous or detrimental to their
religion, while at the same time, he was wont to proclaim in
his private conversations, which have been published by his
daughter, that it was inflicting a grievous wound on our
religion, and shaking the faith of our people. In one place he
says that " the education supplied by the National Board is
gradually undermining the vast fabric of the Irish Catholic
Church" He adds, in another place. " I believe . . . that
mixed education is gradually enlightening the mass of the people,
and that if we give it up, we must give up the only hope of
weaning the Irish from the abuses of popery. But I cannot
VOL v. 35
5 1 8 Protestant Ascendency and
venture openly to profess this opinion. I cannot openly support
the Education Board as an instrument of conversion. I have
to fight its battles with one hand, and that my best, tied behind
me."1
Thus we are assured that mixed education, granted to us
as a wonderful boon, for which we were to be eternally grate-
ful, was in reality considered by its greatest founder and
patron as nothing but a powerful engine for undermining
Catholicity, shaking the religious convictions of our people,
and introducing indifferentism or infidelity among them.
But as I cannot, at so late an hour, enter fully into this
subject, I shall merely add, that the mixed system is con-
demned and reprobated by the most enlightened nations of the
earth, as well as by all Catholic bishops, and by the Supreme
Head of our Church. England encourages the denominational
system, and will give no grant to a school in which religion is
not taught. Prussia obliges every school to profess a particular
creed. In France mixed education is little known, and as far
as it is known, it is strongly condemned.
Catholic Belgium has mixed education in some of its univer-
sities, but the teaching in these institutions is most pestiferous,
as every one knows who has read the acts of the meeting of
university students, held some time ago at Liege.
Holland has mixed or neutral schools, supported at the
public expense ; but the Catholics have found them so dan-
gerous that, whilst they pay the taxes for the neutral schools,
they support religious schools for themselves.
But it is in the United States that we are to seek in an
especial manner for an illustration of the effects of the mixed
system, for it has been tried there for a long time, and on a
gigantic scale. Now, what has been its results ? To answer
this question I will read an extract from a recent letter of Dr.
M'Closkey, Archbishop of New York.
" I can answer that so far as our Catholic children are con-
cerned, the workings of our public school system have proved,
and do prove, highly detrimental to their faith and morals. So
strongly has the conviction of this been impressed upon the
minds both of pastors and parents, that most strenuous efforts,
and even enormous sacrifices, have been made and continue to
be made, in order to establish and support Catholic parochial
schools. We have at the present moment in daily attendance
at these schools an average number of between eighteen and
twenty thousand children. The annual expense for the
maintenance of these schools does not fall short of one hundred
1Miss Whately's "Life of her Father," first edition, p. 244-246.
CatJiclic Education in Ireland. 519
thousand dollars ; while the amount expended for the purchase
of lots, and erection of proper school buildings, &c., con-
siderably exceeds a million.
"Nothing but the deepest sense of the many dangers to
which the religious and moral principles of their children are
exposed could prompt Catholic parents to make such great
pecuniary sacrifices, or assume such onerous burdens ; for it has
to be borne in mind, that while they are thus obliged through
conscientious motives to support their own schools, they have
at the same time to bear their share of the taxation imposed
for support of the public schools."
In another letter the Most Rev. Dr. M'Closkey states, that
the Catholics of New York (who are very generally Irish, or
the children of Irish,) subscribed last year 132,000 dollars for
the support of their own schools, and that they have contributed
a million and a quarter of dollars for sites and building of
Catholic schools ; thus showing how thoroughly hostile they
are to the mixed system, and firmly determined to make the
greatest sacrifice in order to save their children from the
scourge of mixed education.
To Dr. M'Closkey's testimony I shall add that of Dr. Bayley,
the learned Bishop of Newark : —
" My own opinion is that a great deal of the crime of the
country, most of the private and public dishonesty which is so
prevalent, has its origin in this system of mere intellectual
training without religion. What makes it worse, the family
influence has been very much broken down in this country, not
only by the religious indifference of the majority of parents, but
by the too earnest pursuit of wealth, and the early age at
which children are placed in counting-rooms, stores, and work-
shops.
"Another thing which has been the cause of much injury to
the national character and welfare is, that the public school
system attempts too much ; over-education in one sense, by
teaching the masses branches which belong only to higher
education, and thus disposing them to think they know a
great deal when they know very little. In a word, that
superficial knowledge which is so dangerous, making the
children of the poor discontented with their lot in life, indisposed
to anything like hard work ; and this is one of the causes why
all the professions are so over-crowded with persons who would
have made very good shoemakers or carpenters, but miserable
physicians, lawyers, or ministers.
" I can readily understand from its effects as exhibited in
this country, why it should be a favourite (that is, the mixed
merely secular education) with the modern Radical school, who
520 Protestant Ascendency and
have such a hatred of the supernatural ; it does their work
most effectually, and is, as I believe, the greatest enemy of the
Catholic church, and of all dogmatic truth."
To the Catholic authorities which I have quoted, I shall add
one or two Protestant testimonies. The Rev. Mr. Frazer, a
Protestant clergyman, who was appointed by the Board of
Education in England to examine into the state of education
in America, treats largely in his report upon the mixed schools
in the United States. At page 166 he says :—
"As to the results .of the association of children of different
religious beliefs in the same school, I do not feel justified in
pronouncing a very strong or definite opinion. With every
approach so carefully barred against sectarianism, and the whole
religious teaching (such as it is) being of so absolutely neutral
a tint, there is no room or pretext for quarrelling, nothing that
can generate odium theologicum. It may result, and I think it
does result, in indifferentism, in a depreciation of the value of
a creed and fixed forms of faith, and in a more thorough
acceptance than elsewhere of the half-truth that " He can't be
wrong whose life is in the right." It struck me very forcibly —
I had almost said painfully — in America how little identity in
religious feelings, or unanimity in religious habits or opinions,
appears to be estimated as a constituent in domestic happiness.
In no place have 1 ever seen the principle of " agreeing to differ"
in matters of religion so thoroughly woven into the tissue of
society. It is not at all unusual to find two or three faiths in
one family, and husband and wife separating on the Sabbath
(as the Lord's-day is always called) to worship with different
congregations.
" It is true that the work of the day commences with the
reading of the Word of God, generally followed by prayer. It
is true that decorous, if not reverent, attention is paid during
both these exercises ; but the decorum struck me as rather a
result or a part of a discipline than as a result of spiritual im-
pressions ; there was no " face" as it had been the face of " an
angel !" no appearance of kindled hearts. The intellectual
tone of the schools is high ; the moral tone, though perhaps a
little too self-conscious, is not unhealthy ; but another tone,
which can only be vaguely described in words, but of which
one feels oneself in the presence when it is really there, and
which, for want of a better name, I must call the religious tone,
one misses, and misses with regret."
Let us now hear one of the Protestant prelates of the United
States, the Bishop of Tennessee, who was over lately at the
Pan-Anglican Synod, and who delivered an address on edu-
cation in London, from which I take the following : —
Catholic Education in Ireland. 521
"He (the Bishop) was anxious to lay the secular system
open before the meeting, because he believed it was a matter
of profound interest, not simply to the Church, but to the
people of England, of every name, denomination, or sect, that
it should be well understood that the people of England should
understand well what they were doing, and not take another
leap in the dark."
Mr. Frazer, in his report, said that the intellectual tone of
the schools was high, and the moral tone not altogether un-
healthy, but that the religious tone was altogether absent.
There was just no religion at all in it. It was secular, and took
no notice of God, or of Christ, or of the Church of the Living
God, or except in the most incidental way, of God's Holy
Word. The intellect was stimulated to the highest degree,
but the heart and the affections were left uncultivated. It was
a system which trained for the business of life, not for the
duties of life. As there were differences of opinion about
Christianity, it was not allowed to be spoken of, and a
knowledge of it was not one of the qualifications for a teacher.
A man might be a Mahomedan, or a Hindo, if he were only
proficient in geography, arithmetic, or the exact sciences. The
teachers in the normal schools might be infidels, provided they
did not openly inculcate their scepticism ; and in point of fact,
in the schools which were designed to train teachers only, a
vast majority were not Christians.
It was quite true that in some schools — the number was com-
paratively small — the Bible was read, and in some the Lord's
Prayer was said, but who could presume to call that Christian
education ? Merely reading the Bible without explanation or
comment was not instruction. What would be said of a military
school where the professors only read a chapter or two on
military tactics, but gave no lessons, made no comments,
required no drill ? How could they expect mere reading of
the Bible to the young would make Christian men and women ?
But, in the great majority of the schools, even that was not
done ; and so the youth of the country left the school ready in
figures, skilful with the pen, well instructed in the anatomy of
the body, and the mechanism of the steam-engine, but utterly
ignorant of the principles of duty, truth, religion, and honour,
without knowing the Ten Commandments or the Apostles'
Creed. The result was stated by the Rev. Dr. Cheever, that
five-sixths of the people of the United States do not attend any
place of public worship. It was this which made a distinguished
Prussian remark : " I came to your country to study its
geography, its laws, its institutions, and I find 2,000 religions,
and nobody believing in a God." He believed that this
522 The Catholic Ceremonial.
lamentable state of things grew out of the secular system. Fox,
the founder of the first reformatory for children, very well asked,
" Of what use is it to a commonwealth that its rogues should
know how to read, write, and cipher ? Those acquirements
are only so many master-keys put into their hands to break into
the sanctuary of human society."
I could quote many other similar authorities, but the few I
have laid before you place in sufficient relief all the evils of
separating religion from instruction, and the dangers which
arise from mixed education, which the great leader of the
Protestant Church, Dr. Whately, and his friends, endeavoured
to pawn on us as a great boon, but which in reality they in-
tended to be a Pandora's box, destined to spread innumerable
evils among us. I shall therefore merely conclude from all that
has been said, that up to the present the desire of maintaining
the religious ascendency of a party has been either directly or
indirectly, openly or fraudulently, a great impediment to the
progress of knowledge in the mass of the people of Ireland,
and has prevented the Catholics from obtaining their just rights
in regard to the education of their children ; I shall add that
we have now ground to hope for better and brighter days, as
the last knell of ascendency seems to have been tolled, and we
may expect shortly to see it completely banished from this
land, on which it has inflicted so many and such overwhelming
calamities.
THE CATHOLIC CEREMONIAL.1
O
'UTSIDE the Catholic Church there is a general opinion
that we Catholics make all devotion to consist in the per-
formance of a certain routine of ceremonies, and are entire
strangers to what is called vital religion. These ceremonies
to which we are supposed to attach such excessive, or rather
such superstitious value, are looked on by those outside the
church as an unnecessary and worse than useless display, or
as an empty pageant. Our love of them is set down as one
of the damning ingredients in that bug-bear which they have
conjured up, and designated by the name of " Popery." We,
on the contrary, look upon our ceremonial as one of the most
beautiful things in the church, one of those that most clearly
mark the finger of God, and operate most efficaciously in the
work of true vital religion.
1 The following very able and interesting paper is from the pen of the Rev. M.
O'Connor, S.J., to whom our readers are already so much indebted. We extract
it from the esteemed American periodical. "The Catholic World."
The Catholic Ceremonial. 523
The point, therefore, is a most important one, and well de-
serving our most serious consideration. To understand it
rightly, let us consider the principles on which ceremonial is
based, and its practical working.
It has been admitted by all nations, that worship is due to
the deity ; that this worship needs an external and a public
expression. Not only the people of God under the old and
new dispensations have admitted this, but the Turk and the
Pagan of every shade have admitted and acted on it. Many
have erred egregiously, and have had recourse to disgusting
and execrable means to put it in practice ; but the feeling it-
self is universal, and, therefore, may be enumerated among the
first promptings of reason.
Its necessity is based on our relation to God, and on our
own nature. God, as in himself infinitely perfect, as our
creator, our ruler, and provider, is entitled to our acknowledg-
ment of his perfections and of his dominion over us, to thanks
for benefits conferred, to supplication for their continuance.
We owe him this duty not merely as beings having souls, but
as that which we are — beings, having a body and soul — as
men. The feelings of the soul, especially if earnest, cannot be
pent up in it. They need expression. When strong and ear-
nest they flow over into the body, they express themselves in
bodily action. Man, as such, acts with the body and the soul.
Moreover, we owe God worship not merely as individuals, but
as society. God made society and all that gives it charms.
He is the author of the bonds that hold it together ; he gave
us those faculties that force us into it ; the wants that in it
alone are satisfied ; and the powers that contribute to their
satisfaction. Society, as well as the individual man, is one
of those beautiful and bountiful works that call forth our ad-
miration and demand our gratitude. Society can recognize
and thank its author only by external and common public
worship. The internal feeling needs something to lean on, as
it were, to give itself strength and almost to give itself an ex-
istence. The internal act is, of course, the soul of true worship,
but, like the soul itself of man, it needs a body in which it
may become incarnate to fulfil the end of its being. Without
this it has neither life nor power. It needs this to give itself
intensity.
The external act becomes as it were a depository in which
the soul lays what is produced at one moment, while it is add-
ing more and more. As the iron receives in deposit the
powers of each of the circles of the magnetic wire that turn
and turn again around it, and is ready to discharge their
combined force at any moment, so the external act catches as
524 The jCatholic Ceremonial.
it were the fire of the internal emotion, holds it until that of
another is added, and enables the soul to seize again the
power of those that have vanished and resume its work with
redoubled vigor. Thus going on from faith to faith, from
worship to worship, from virtue to virtue, all these rise higher
and higher, strike their roots deeper and deeper, until the in-
ternal feeling becomes intensified and strong and as worthy of
the great object to which it is directed as it can be in a mere
creature.
The ceremonial is nothing else but this external expression
of inward worship. It is an expression that gives it consist-
ency and strength. It intensifies and preserves it. It trans-
mits it from one to another, and to succeeding generations.
In it society expresses itself. The individual man has his own
organs of expression. The organ of the Christian body is
the minister of the church. Through him she acts as a body ;
she expresses herself as a unit. On this account she very
properly regulates minutely, how he shall discharge this duty.
This gives his actions a meaning and a value over and above,
and to some degree independent of, the value they possess, as
expressions of his own individual devotion.
Worship does not consist, properly speaking, in receiving
instruction. This is, of course, a good thing, but it is only a
means to an end. It is like the ladder to ascend, or the
scaffolding used in the erection of a building. To receive it
with respect and other dispositions due to the word of God,
may imply faith in him, and submission to him ; but, properly
speaking, in as far as it is mere instruction or information, it
is not worship. Worship is our submission to God, a per-
formance of the duty we owe him. As far as instruction shows
us how, and leads us to do this in a proper manner, it is good,
but in itself — as a mere expansion of the mind, or the storing
of it with knowledge, it is not worship. In paying worship,
we must act, not merely be acted upon ; we must do, not mere-
ly hear. For this, the ceremonial affords most useful aid ; not,
of course, as far as it is a mechanical movement, which if it
stop there would be useless, but inasmuch as it is the instru-
ment of the inmost soul. Light and instruction must precede
to give it significance, but when life has thus been breathed
into it, it becomes itself an action, a practice of virtue, a dis-
charge of the highest virtues, which are those that have God
himself for their immediate object.
This ceremonial consists of the words that are used, and
the acts that are performed. Words, said or sung, are a part
of it, but only a part. Many acts often express the feelings
more effectually. These are sometimes more or less natural ;
The Catholic Ceremonial. 525
at other times they may be said to be conventional. But
though arbitrary as words themselves, when they receive a
determined meaning, they become capable of effectually and
powerfully expressing the internal feelings of the individual
and of society. Kneeling or standing erect, raising up or
clasping the hands or striking the breast, an uplifted glance
to heaven or a reverent bowing of the head, will express adora-
tion, reverence, sorrow, or supplication, as well and often better
than words. When you walk in a procession with torch in
hand, accompanying the blessed sacrament, or to honor some
other mystery of religion, you are professing your faith in it
as effectually, and impressing that faith in your soul, perhaps,
more deeply than when you recite the creed, just as the citizen
expresses forcibly his political principles by analogous acts.
These, of course in particular cases, may be acts of hypocrisy
or hollow pageant, just as words may be a lie or an empty
sound, but this takes nothing from their intrinsic appropriate-
ness. Nay, acts of this kind would seem to draw the soul in-
to what is intended to accompany them and be expressed by
them more powerfully than words.
Some of the acts of this worship have, in themselves, a
power and efficacy apart from any impression they may pro-
duce on the beholder. Such is the case in all the sacraments.
The sacred rite, duly performed, may be compared to the
spark, which, however powerless of itself, when falling on the
proper material, awakens a great power of nature, that will
rend mountains, and hurl into shapeless masses, the proudest
works of man. The sacred rite has been chosen by omnipotence
as his agent and instrument, and its power has only the limits
which omnipotence has been pleased to assign. It is the same
thing in the celebration of mass. The words of Christ, pro-
nounced by his minister, effect a great change. For he who
first took bread and said " This is my body," and by his in-
finite power made true what he said, addressing his apostles,
added, " Do this" — yes, even this, great as it is — " in com-
memoration of me." And they " do " it, and by doing it,
"show forth his death until he come." The effect follows by
the power of God, no matter who is present, no matter who
is instructed or edified, even though no heart beat more in
unison than did the hearts of the Jews, who stood by while
the great offering was made on Calvary. But other parts of
the ceremonial, which, though not of equal importance, occupy
more time, realize their end only when they express our feel-,
ings of reverence, or give them strength and light. Many are
directed to aid the priest alone, in the proper performance of
his high duties. Many, while they have this object also, are
526 The Catholic Ceremonial.
likewise directed to instruct, and become expressions of the
devotion of the people. The ceremonial therefore, first of all
makes provisions for the priest. It is important for himself
and for the people that he be a worthy minister of Christ ;
that he discharge the duty of offering up the holy sacrifice
with all the reverence, the humility, the fervor which so great
an act demands. The ceremonies become a means of his
doing this. In performing them properly he exercises all
these virtues. The church makes him descend to the foot of
the altar, and there acknowledging himself a sinner before
God and the heavenly court, express by words and acts his
sorrow, demand pardon before venturing to ascend the altar
on which is to be laid the holy of holies. He then ascends
with trembling step, and having again silently prayed for
forgiveness, he intones the noble hymn, " Gloria in Excelsis
Deo" Whether the voices of the choir take up its thrilling
notes and make the vault resound with a call to give glory to
God on high, or he continue it in a subdued tone, every word
he utters, every motion he is called on to make, enables him
to express more and more earnestly his desire for God's honor,
his homage to Christ, "alone holy, alone Lord, alone most
high.-
Prepared by this introduction, and having admonished the
people to turn to God, he pours out in simple but touching
words his supplications for our various wants. He then reads
choice extracts from the sacred volume conveying the most
important teachings of our holy religion. I will not stop to
describe to you the ceremonies at the offertory, nor speak of
the sublime " Preface " preparatory to the most sacred part of
the sacrifice. Having prayed for all conditions of the church,
having appealed to the blessed in heaven with whom the church
on earth is in communion, he approaches the solemn act of
consecration. Every word he utters, every glance, every
motion, is directed to fill him with awe, with reverence, to ex-
press a demand, an act of homage, of gratitude or of invoca-
tion ; and when the sacred words are pronounced, and he stands
before the incarnate God truly present, though not visible to
corporal eyes, with profound inclination he expresses his
adoration, while the victim is raised up, that all present may,
like him, kneel down and adore. And so all through the holy
sacrifice.
While these lessons are taught and put in practice by the
priest, the people, before whom they are performed, learn from
them to cherish similar dispositions, and to unite their spirit
in the expression of his devotion. It is the same thing with
all the ceremonies, which, like those alluded to, are expressive
The Catholic Ceremonial 527
of the feelings we should entertain for God. They frequently
express them more forcibly than words could. Even ordinary
feelings often become too strong for language, and seek ex-
pression in some action. The fond mother would find words
too tame to express the love she bears her child. She hugs it
to her bosom, and impresses warm kisses on its face. We
meet a long-lost friend. Words would not express all we feel.
We clasp him in our arms, and press him to our heart. The
model of repentance, the prodigal, when he meets his father,
forgets a part of the discourse he had resolved to pronounce;
and folded in his father's arms, expresses his sorrow more forci-
bly in silent tears and heart-breaking sobs, and is forgiven.
Even anger, which cannot find an adequate expression in the
most impassioned language, seeks to manifest itself in the up-
lifted clenched fist, if it cannot gain its object by striking a
blow. Do not tell me, then, that all this action in the church
ceremonial is mummery. It is often a higher expression of
devotion than words would afford.
If you wish to test this, look at a devout congregation of
Catholics kneeling before the altar. The organ that had lifted
up their hearts when singing the " Glory to God in the highest"
is silent, or a few low notes are heard that make the silence
of the congregation more sensible. No voice, scarcely a breath,
is heard, when the priest, having raised his eyes to heaven, is now
inclined over the sacred elements. Thousands are kneeling
around in awe. A slight stroke of the bell announces that the
act is done. The priest prostrates himself in silent adoration,
and then elevates the consecrated host. Every head is bowed
in the presence of a God. Will any one who has witnessed
that scene, who has tried to enter into the feelings of that con-
gregation, please tell me the words, or write out the speech,
that would have expressed so powerfully their reverence, their
adoration, their gratitude, and their love ? Yes, ceremonies are
a noble expression of our highest feelings. They are even
more ; for they intensify them, embalm them, and preserve
them from evaporating. They communicate them and spread
abroad, and transmit them from generation to generation.
All this is a consequence of human nature, and this is so
true that it is made an objection to our system. It is said that
we build too much on human nature. But if worship be made
for man it must accord with his nature — not, indeed, with that
which is corrupt in it, but with his nature as it came from God.
Now, this need, this power, this efficacy of the expression of
feeling by outward ceremony, is no effect of the fall : it is in
the very nature of man. Hence we have recourse to it in every-
thing else. What is the shake of the hand when we meet a
528 The Catholic Ceremonial.
friend, or the salute, or the banquet to which we invite him,
but a ceremony to express friendship or esteem ? Look at our
processions and various political demonstrations. What are
they but ceremonies in which political or other feelings seek
expression — an expression which we know will strengthen
them, deepen them, communicate them to others by creating
and giving force to what may be called a contagious influence ?
What are our national and party airs, our national and party
festivals, but expressions of a similar character looking forward
to similar results ?
In these things, as I said in the beginning, the feelings of
the soul seek an embodiment, that will give them consistency
and duration.
No matter what the external manifestation be, even though
it be merely conventional, when it expresses a feeling, it be-
comes an instrument for all these purposes. It becomes, as it
were, a permanent part of a structure, to which another stone
is added as often as the act is repeated, until the building
grows up in solid beauty that defies the ravages of time.
This is the case with our political or social sentiments, because
it grows out of our very nature. Why then should it not be
the case, or rather is it not evidently the case, with those also
which are connected with religion ? These external rights not
only express and intensify the interior feelings, but let phi-
losophers explain it as they may, they become as it were a
depository in which they may be laid by to be recalled almost
at pleasure, nay, even to be drawn out by others who wish
to acquire them.
Look at that piece of bunting hanging from a flag-staff and
flying before the breeze. What is it ? A first glance will tell
you that it is a piece of stuff purchased for a trifle a few days
ago from the merchant, on whose shelves it lay unnoticed and
uncared for, except as far as it was capable of producing some
day a few dollars for its owner. But now it has received a
new destiny. It bears the national symbols, and it is the flag
of the country. And, oh ! what a change has taken place !
It recalls the glories of the past, the hopes of the future ; it is
the symbol of the majesty of the nation. The patriot heart
warms in beholding it ; the warrior-breast is bared to do it
honor. Through a hail of fire he stands by it or bears it on,
and will see unmoved a thousand of his companions strewed
o'er the battle-field while this yet floats before the breeze.
And when victory has crowned his efforts, he salutes it as the
genius that nerved his right arm during the contest. Though
torn almost to tatters, he bedews it with his tears of joy. It
is his pride in life. He looks forward to descend in honor into
the grave wrapped in its folds.
The Catholic Ceremonial. 529
Wherever that flag is raised, one glance leads us to behold
the genius of" our country standing up before us with all her
claims to our devotion and our love. Let it receive but the
slightest insult, and a thrill vibrates throughout the land ; every
heart is wounded, every hand is ready to be raised in its de-
fence. Yet it is, after all, but a piece of bunting, worth so
many cents per yard. But by becoming a symbol, by being
the object of a rite, it has become the depository of the en-
thusiasm of the nation. It is made capable of evoking this,
of quickening and communicating it, whenever it is unfurled.
Look at our national airs : what are they ? The scientific
musician will find little in them that is soul-stirring ; but the
feelings of our fathers are deposited in them. They were the
tunes in which we expressed our gladness in days of triumph,
by which we were aroused on the national holiday, in which we
sung our joy on all important occasions. Our love of home,
of kindred, of fatherland, has been enbalmed in them ; and
when they fall on our ears, all these dear and stirring feelings,
as if buried in their notes, are sent forth, now unlocked, and
again take possession of our souls. They thus arouse the
warrior and the patriot, calling out all the feelings that cluster
around what is most dear.
The Swiss soldier in foreign lands was so vividly recalled
to the memories of home, by the airs to which he listened in
childhood, and the recollections of his native mountains, and
the associations revived by them, had such power, that a
special disease, called "home-sickness" was frequently the re-
sult. As this proved fatal to many, the playing or singing
of such tunes was forbidden in Swiss regiments in foreign
service. And who does not know the stirring effect produced
on certain occasions, when Yankee Doodle or Patrick's Day
has been struck up, no matter what musical professors may
say of their artistic merits.
In a similar manner our feelings of devotion are consigned
to some homely religious tune. They are first expressed in
it. They cling around it. They become identified with it.
They are recalled vividly when we hear it again. They all
come back in their original freshness, with accumulated force.
They are transmitted to others, and thus we inherit the trea-
sure of the devotional feeling of preceding generations.
Though our being supplied with music by great artists, who
are constantly changing, if not improving their compositions,
deprives us in a great measure of the advantages that might
arise from this source, we can feel it at times in what is allowed
to retain this traditional force. Who is there that does not
feel the devotion so often experienced in assisting at the bene-
53O The Catholic Ceremonial.
diction of the blessed sacrament, or on other occasions renewed
by the tones of the Tantum Ergo or other familiar tunes,
when the performers do not destroy, or at least smother the
old airs by their exquisiteness ? Where the songs of the
church are in more general use, the intonation of the Miserere
or the Stabat Mater or the Pange Lingua, and many other
tunes, is like the opening up of a flood-gate, through which
feelings of devotion rush as it were in a torrent and take
possession of a whole congregation.
What is said of songs may be applied to other rites. The
feelings of the past are deposited in them ; they express them,
they arouse them, they communicate them. This occurs,
though they may be chosen arbitrarily. What more arbitrary,
generally speaking, than the meaning attached to words ?
The word " home," for example, for all that is in the sound,
might as well have been adapted to signify anything else of
the most different character. Yet now having received a de-
finite meaning, it recalls uniformly a whole definite series of
ideas and feelings. So it is with a rite — say that of anointing
with oil, that of sprinkling with water, burning incense, the
use of candles, or the making of the sign of the cross. Many
rites were established primarily for this purpose, others had
their origin in necessity or convenience or usage ; but the
church, anxious to make even these things a source of edifica-
tion and an instrument of devotion, gave them a meaning,
attached to them a lesson which they reproduce for ever after.
Even those which have a certain intrinsic fitness to signify
what they are established for, derive their chief efficacy in this
respect from their having been chosen for the purpose, or
having gradually received a social meaning, well understood
in the Christian family. These have the additional advantage
of speaking out, as it were, a whole instruction at a glance.
The moment you look at one of these acts, a lesson is pre-
sented which could scarcely be communicated in many words,
and in performing them the heart says more, and that more
simply and more effectually, than it could in a long discourse.
I have referred to the flag of the country ; of its being raised,
and how a look at it, or a salute, powerfully expresses at once
the most important emotions and lively enthusiasm. Well
we do the same through the Christian's glorious standard,
which is the sacred symbol of the cross. Be it of wood or of
the most precious metal — be it the production of the most
unskilful or the most cunning workman — it is for us the symbol
of man's redemption, and around it cluster our most tender
feelings of veneration and love. It is placed over our altars,
over our churches ; it hangs in our rooms ; where Catholic
The Catholic Ceremonial 531
/
feelings can save it from insult, it is raised up in the highways,
and is made to meet our eyes wherever we turn. We impress
its form on our persons whenever we call on God in prayer,
whenever we find ourselves exposed to temptation or danger.
In that one act the faith, the hope, the love of the church for
Christ and Christ crucified, are all expressed. All these feel-
ings are imbedded in it. All are called out again whenever
that sign is made. What we have heard of him from the
pulpit, what we have read in our private study, what has
occurred to our own minds in meditation, is all brought before
us with the accompanying sentiments and feelings as soon as
that sacred symbol presents itself to our eyes. All are
awakened, are revived, and seized again at its glance. No
wonder, then, that the Catholic loves the cross ; that he loves
to prostrate himself in adoration before it ; that he looks to it
when he seeks consolation in suffering, support in affliction,
light in his difficulties, purity of spirit in his joys. Do not
tell me that it is of lifeless wood or of metal, that it is but the
work of the craftsman. Oh ! this is like stopping the soldier
in battle, to direct his attention to the price per yard of his
flag, or to the name or address of the store where it was
bought, while he is advancing enthusiastically under its in-
spiration against his country's foes. Yes ; who does not know
that it is of wood or metal ? but to me it is the symbol ot
my Saviour's love. As such, I love it ; as such all my most
sacred feelings cling around it : I impress kisses on it ; I bathe
it with my tears. And when on Good Friday, the priest after
bringing before us the whole scene of Calvary, having led us,
in the service, to look on the death of Christ as the great turn-
ing-point in the world's History, having shown the woes of
the past that were there to find a remedy, and the blessings
for the future that were thence to spring forth, holds up the
crucifix before the prostrate multitude, and sings out, in a
solemn tone, " Ecce lignum Crucis," " Behold the wood of the
cross on which did hang the salvation of the world," will we
not all send up our whole souls in the deacon's answer, crying
out, with him, " Venite adoremus," " Come, let us adore ?"
And when the priest looses his shoes, and on bare feet ap-
proaches the sacred symbol of redemption, that he may kneel
down and kiss it with fondness, on the anniversary of the day
on which the tragic scene was enacted ; who is there that will
not vie with him in kneeling and pressing the sacred symbol
to his lips ?
The same thing can be applied in. different degrees to the
various rites throughout the year, when succeeding festivals
bring before us the other great mysteries of religion, or when
532 The Catholic Ceremonial.
we are called on to express the ordinary feelings of Christian
devotion. He who has studied the simple devotions of the
rosary, or the way of the cross, will be astonished at the mine
of devotion, of enlightened piety contained in them, and at
the treasures that are drawn from them by faithful souls,
simple and unpretending as they are, and puerile as they appear
to the self-sufficient.
But these acts and exercises intended to express and nourish
our Christian feelings, can only be appreciated where there is
faith. It is only into hearts animated by faith that they can
enter. It is only in such they can be aroused. A certain
amount of instruction is even necessary to understand the con-
ventional meaning of many. This instruction and training
is received by the Catholic almost with his mother's milk. As
he learns the meaning of words, which are still more arbitrary,
and acquires a practical skill in use of language, notwithstand-
ing its complicated laws, so he learns the meaning of the cere-
monial, and is initiated into its use. With clasped hands the
child kneels before the crucifix, and imprints kisses on it.
Little by little he learns the history of him whose figure is
nailed to that cross, knowledge grows in him with reverence
and love. He goes to the church, and is struck with what he
beholds. He catches reverence from those around, and in-
fuses it into his own imitation of their mode of acting. As he
learns more and more of what is there done, this reverence
becomes more and more enlightened, and he grows up a
devout and enlightened Christian, performing the acts expres-
sive of worship with the same ease and intelligence with which
he uses the ordinary expressions of social life. The looker-
on who is without faith or instruction, who has no sympathy,
and wishes to have no sympathy, with him, thinks his acts a
mummery, if he do not give them a harsher name. Such a
person may be compared to one who has no ear for music, to
whom the enthusiasm of those who are aroused by a beauti-
ful composition is incomprehensible ; or to one who listens to
an eloquent discourse in a tongue which he does not, and cares
not to understand ; or he is like Michol, who laughs at David
dancing before the ark, because she has no sympathy with his
jubilant gratitude. The Catholic ceremonial is made for
Catholics. If it enable them to express and strengthen their
reverence, it answers its purpose. Those who have no such
feelings to be awakened cannot be surprised if it strike them
without producing emotion. The ceremonial is useful, not
only as an expression of feeling, it is eminently instructive
and educational, if I may use the expresion, by instilling and
developing both the knowledge and the devotion it is intended
The Catholic Ceremonial 533
to express. While it teaches, it leads to act in accordance
with the teaching ; properly performed, it is itself such action.
It thus instils truth into the mind, and shapes the heart in
accordance with it, which is the highest aim of the best
education.
Some are pleased to look upon the mass of our people
as very ignorant in matters of religion. If by this it be meant
to say, that all are not experts in quoting texts of scripture ;
that they know nothing of many controversies that appear of
great importance to our separated brethren ; that they do
not understand the meaning of many phrases that have be-
come household words amongst them, though, sometimes, I
fear, passing round without any very definite meaning, I am
willing to acknowledge the charge. But if it be meant to say-
that they are ignorant of those great facts and truths of reli-
gion which it is necessary or important for men to know, I re-
pudiate it most solemnly. Nay, I contend that there is a
better knowledge of these amongst many or most Catholics
who can neither read nor write, if they have only followed in
the paths where the church led them, than amongst many of
our opponents who are considered learned theologians ; and
this they owe chiefly to this very ceremonial of which I am
treating. They may know nothing of Greek particles, or of
many other things good enough and usual in their place, but
which God has not required any one to learn ; but they know
that the incarnate God died for the salvation of man. They
know the mystery of the Trinity, which is implied in that of
the incarnation. They know the sinful character of man, their
need of such a Redeemer. They are lead to thank him, to
obey him. They know his sufferings, one by one ; they are
familiar with his thorns and his nails ; they have pondered
over his wounds and mangled flesh ; they penetrate into the
side pierced for their love. He who knows even this much
is not ignorant. Yet all this, and much more, is familiar to
every one accustomed to look with faith on the crucifix. He
sees in the face of the crucified One patience, resignation,
compassion for sinners, love even for his enemies. He sees
the consequences of sin, and beholds their remedy. Looking
on this, the Catholic finds support in his trials or afflictions
and moderation in his joy. Show me the volume he could
ponder over and learn as much. All that he heard at his
mother's knee and from the preacher's lips is brought before him
in a single glance at his crucifix. All is brought up again when
he makes the sign of the cross. Yet the cross, so fraught with
instruction and moving appeals, is that which is presented
to him a thousand times in the rites of the church, inasmuch
VOL. v. 36
534 TJie Catholic Ceremonial.
as it is the great pervading principle that must animate all
his devotion and all his actions. It is brought before him,
not in a cold way, merely teaching him a lesson. He is taught
to know and to believe : he is led to adore and to confide ;
he is brought to invoke through it all the graces of which he
stands in need. All this is done every time that he makes the
sign of the cross, pronouncing the blessed words, " In the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
While many of your learned expounders of scripture are
comparing text with text on these subjects, trying to remove,
but scarcely removing, the doubts which they know to exist
among their hearers, which they feel, perhaps, rising up in their
own breasts, or what is worse, while they are proposing theories
in a Christian pulpit which make nought the cross of Christ
and the mystery of redemption as ever taught in the Christian
family, the poor Catholic, on whom they look with contempt,
is making his starting point what others are but trying to prove,
and while signing himself with the cross, believing, adoring,
penetrating into the depths of the love of the incarnate God,
and endeavoring to shape his own soul into conformity with
its teachings. And you call him ignorant. Indeed, a pure
though simple faith among these people enables them to see
the great truths of religion with a clearness that supplies fre-
quently an apt reply to difficulties that seem very embarrass-
ing to their opponents.
Yet, this is the first lesson that the Catholic child learns at
his mother's knee. As he goes on, he learns more and more
of God's works of mercy towards man, of his institutions for
our salvation and our sanctification, and all he learns he sees
reproduced in a glance in the ceremonial of the Church, which
speaks to him in accents more and more eloquent, as his know-
ledge expands and his heart is brought more fully into con-
formity with God's holy teachings. In the liturgy and the
various other rites of the church, she has enshrined all the
great dogmas of religion. There she teaches them, there she
keeps them beyond the reach of the innovator. The priest him-
self, the bishop, and the pope, there see them inculcated,
and from thence, as from a rich treasury, draw them out to
present them to the faithful. This teaching by rites in use
from the beginning of the church, addresses itself to all with
power, for in it they find the teaching of the saints and the
sages of by-gone ages, and feel themselves breathing the same
atmosphere with them. The martyrs who bore testimony to
their faith with their blood, the apostolic men, who by their
preaching, their labors, and their prayers, brought nations to
the knowledge of Christ, the holy confessors and virgins, who,
The Catholic Ceremonial. 535
hi frail vessels, showed forth his power in every age, practised
these same rites, and were therefore animated by the same
faith. The church, throughout the whole world, uses them,
and therefore believes as we do. What more powerful for
bringing home to each one the faith of the universal, ever-
lasting church !
There is great security for the faith of a Catholic in his re-
ceiving it through the teaching of a pastor in communion with
the church of the whole world, and sanctioned by its highest
authority ; but I would venture to say that there is something
even more solemn in this voice of the ceremonial, which is a
voice of the living and the dead — of the church of the cata-
combs, and of the church of this day — throughout the world.
With all the force which this gives, leaning as the church does
upon Christ, who died to sanctify her in truth, we are taught
the great dogmas of the Trinity and the Incarnation ; of the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ ; the plan and means
of the redemption, the need in which we stand of divine grace,
and the means of obtaining it. We are taught the character
of the great Christian oblation, the nature and effects of the
sacraments, as well as the dispositions they require, and the
duties they impose.
Far be it from me to undervalue the oral teaching of the
ministry. That found in the ceremonial presupposes it, and
is based on it. Both are, as they should be, combined in the
ministrations of the church ; but the ceremonial fixes the oral
teaching. It gives the Christian system a body, as it were,
in which it enables it to prolong its life beyond the moments
of the passing voice. When once embodied in a rite, the im-
pressions of oral instruction, which otherwise so easily pass
away, live for ever. They are seized in their whole entirely
at a glance ; they are brought down to the comprehension of
the lowest ; they are put forth with a majesty that the highest
may admire. Men are taught there, and what is most im-
portant they are lead to act on the teaching, and thus conform
their hearts, as well as their minds, to the holy dogmas of
faith, which is the best and most useful way of imparting
Christian instruction. But I will be told that this teaching,
however useful for those who understand it, is lost for the
great mass of the people, as the language used is a dead one,
which few understand. But, in the first place, it is not lost,
even though the clergy alone should understand it. Is it not
an important thing that the clergy themselves should have
something to keep alive powerfully amongst them the one,
universal and everlasting faith ? Will not all the faithful find
strength in their strength, and light in their light ? If they
536 The. Catholic Ceremonial
are kept right, the truth spread abroad by them will easily be
preserved pure among the masses of the people. Almost all
heresies — be it said to our shame — either had their source in
the sanctuary, or could not have succeeded if they had not
found support there. And is it not a great thing that he who
would become a prevaricator, must cease to minister to-day,
as he did yesterday, and thus give public notice, as it were,
that he seeks to devour the flock which he had undertaken to
feed ; that instead of keeping the deposit which was the first
duty of his office, as dispenser of the mysteries of God, he is
substituting some new-fangled theory of his own, palming it off
as an institution of heaven ? Luther can establish a new system
only by ceasing to say mass. The church of Cranmer is not
at ease until it has formed for itself a new liturgy. The Greeks
and other Orientals by preserving their ancient rites and cere-
monies, have preserved almost all their ancient dogmas, and to
re-enter the church have little else to do but to submit to the
authority of its supreme pastor. But apart from this, the cere-
monial itself speaks to all the people in a language which all
understand. The rites are themselves a language easily learned,
and speaking with silent eloquence to men of every tongue.
They are to some extent what the learned have been so long
looking for, a universal language. In fact, when the priest
raises up the host, the Irishman and the German, the Greek
and the American, see the presence of Christ preached to them,
and they kneel down and adore. When the water is poured
on the head of the child that is baptised, men of every clime
know that the regenerating rite is being performed. The rite
once properly explained ever after expresses to them better
than any combination of words, the internal change that is
effected in the soul. Then, it must be remembered that the
main thing in the public service is what is done, not what is
said. Every moderately instructed Catholic is fully aware of
what there takes place, and with this knowledge he can assist,
not only devoutly but intelligently, though he may not under-
stand or even hear one word.
The great source of mistake, in this connection, with our
separated brethren, arises from the fact that they go to church
merely to hear instruction, or to have words put into their
mouths, in which, to address Almighty God. The Catholic
also often goes for instruction, and this he receives in the lan-
guage which he understands. But he goes for what is even
more important — he goes to take a part in the great act that
is performed in God's holy temple. He knows the nature and
ends of this, and the disposition required of him, and as I said
before, he can perform his part though he may not even hear,
The Catholic Ceremonial. 537
much less understand one word that is pronounced. I will sup-
pose a case of the surrender of a large army. The vanquished
soldiers march to the place appointed. They lay down their
arms, they lower their flag, The victorious general, with his
warriors, stands by and receives them. A speech perhaps is
made. But all who are present take an intelligent part in
the proceedings, though many may not hear one word that is ut-
tered. So it is with the great action at mass. I will not have
recourse to the common reply, that all that the priest says at
the altar is translated and published ; that any one who desires
may read and know for himself ; for though the fact be true,
it is not the true solution of the difficulty. I have no hesitation
in saying in assisting at the most solemn part of the celebration
of the divine mysteries, it is best not to attend to the particular
prayers recited by the priest, whether one hear them or not,
whether he be or be not capable of understanding them. It is
better to assist with an enlightened faith in the action that is
performed, and then give full play to such sentiments as this
faith will awaken in each individual soul This is evidently the
view of the Church. For this reason, after the offertory, that is,
when the most important portion begins, the priest is made to
recite almost all his part of the liturgy in a low tone, so that
those present cannot hear him even if they be capable of un-
derstanding what he says. Among the Greeks a curtain is
drawn across the sanctuary, so that they cannot even see him,
but merely know by some signals, if I may so call them, given
from time to time, in what part of the sacred act he is engaged.
The Church, by this, evidently tells us, that by an assistance
in faith, each one yielding to the promptings of his own devo-
tion will derive more profit than by following the priest's words.
Indeed, the parts of the priest and people in this sacred act
are so essentially distinct, that it is scarcely to be expected that
the same prayers should be best for both. While the Church has
minutely arranged the rites and prayers used by him who offers
sacrifice, she is satisfied with awakening the faith and enlight-
tening the devotion of others who assist ; and then leaving it
to their enlightened faith what each shall say to God on such
occasions. She acts like the master of the house, who pre-
pares the banquet, where each guest finds abundance of every-
thing agreable to the palate, and nourishing to the body. With
great care he has prescribed the parts of those who are occupied
in preparing or serving it up, so that all present may receive
substantial proofs of his interest ; but when this is done, he
leaves the invited to partake of what is prepared, as their own
tastes will prompt. It is thus that the Catholic system, which
is accused of tying men down to a performance of mere routine,
538 The Catholic Ceremonial.
is that which really gives more scope to individual liberty in
public worship, while public decorum and dignity are effect-
ually secured by an established ritual. With your extempore
prayers he who utters them has indeed full scope for his feeling
and his fancy, but he is liable also to their vagaries, and his
hearers are at his mercy. As he weeps or rejoices, all must
weep or rejoice, or he becomes to them a hindrance Their
hearts move or try to move, not as the spirit, but as the leader
willeth, and not unfrequently may he lead them into paths
from which their instincts will recoil. They, whose whole time
is engaged in following a prescribed liturgy, must ever go on
in the same groove. Whatever be the feelings or the wants or
the temper of mind of each individual habitually or at the mo-
ment, the same unchanging road is chalked out for all. What
they hear may be beautiful, but it may be far from being the
best suited for many at that moment. Hence disgust or cold
indifference is sure to follow, of which beautiful forms may be
only a pompous covering. Amongst Catholics on the other
hand, while the church to secure order and truth and public
decorum, has carefully regulated every word and act of the
priest, and presents in the celebration of the divine mysteries
the most powerful incentive to faith and devotion in all its
bearings, she leaves each one else who is present to assist as
his own wants and dispositions may prompt.
The ingenious zeal of pious men has provided helps for all
in manuals of various kinds, and each one will select what he
finds best suited for himself He will use it or interrupt its use,
or drop it altogether as experience will show him to be most
useful in his own case. When it is not done through apathy
or listlessness, he may find it better to dispense with them
all, being satisfied with a look, with vivid faith, and such
other interior acts as a faithful soul will soon learn to per-
form with alacrity. Knowing what he himself is, and who is
before him, he will not be at a loss what to say. At one
time he will weep over his sins ; at another he will give
thanks to God ; at another he will lay open his wants, or
ask pardon for his transgressions. Where can he do any of
these things more effectually than in the presence of him who
died for our sins, and to procure for us every blessing.
And many, in fact, thus assist in silent prayer, but with
more intellgent and true devotion, though they neither use a
book nor hear a word, than others who are pondering over
most beautiful manuals.
The danger of cold formality from the steady use of pre-
scribed forms, and nothingelse, is so thoroughly realized by
the church, and this fear is so fully justified by her experi-
The Catholic Ceremonial 539
ence that the priest himself is warned over and over against
it. The remedy that is given him, is the pratice of what
might be called private individual prayer. All spiritual
writers tell him that if he be not fond of this, if especially
he be not careful to renew his spirit by it, in immediate
preparation for the exercise of his sacred functions, they will
degenerate into mere formalism. With this private pre-
paration he will prepare and carry into them a proper spirit
and will then find them a heavenly manna, having every
sweet taste ; without this, he will be but as the conduit pipe,
carrying to others the refreshing waters, but retaining himself
none of the effects of their invigorating powers.
These remarks apply to the most sacred and most im-
portant part of the mass. If the church do not wish us
even to hear them, much less require us to understand them,
if she be right in believing that we may thus assist most
advantageously, it is a matter of no consequence what lan-
guage the priest uses in addressing the Almighty God, for
he understands him, and that is enough. The rites he per-
forms give all the instruction or admonition that is useful
at that moment, and this instruction does not disturb our
individual devotion. On the contrary, whatever turn it may
take, it enlivens, supports, and directs it.
As to the first parts of the mass, to which these remarks
are not so applicable, the "Gospels," which vary at every fes-
tival, are required to be read at least on festivals, in their
own language, and explained by each pastor to his people.
The "Collects," are known to be all substantially suppli-
cations for grace, to which, therefore, we may heartily answer,
Amen, though we do not understand each word. Little else
remains but the "Kyrie," the "Gloria," and the "Credo,"
and these, like the " Pater Noster," and a few other things
sung by the priest, might be easily learned, so as to be
understood by any diligent person. Indeed, I may say it
is the wish of the church that all should learn them. She
would be glad that all would take a part in singing them,
as the people do in many countries. The study of Latin
required for this is not much ; for all that I have referred
to might be contained in two or three pages, and is not
beyond the reach of any one, not even of those who cannot
read. Many such learn it by heart, and understand what
they have learned. Doing so would be but a light task in
view of the many advantages gained. All might then join
in the public chaunts of the church and be gainers in spirit-
ual life, even if they did not discourse equally elegant
music ; or, if our apathy compels the church to let our parts
540 The Catholic Ceremonial.
be discharged, as it were, by deputies in the choir, we would
assist and join in the- beautiful sentiments which are ex-
pressed, and not merely sit inactive to receive the sweet
impressions of their melodies.
But, though this would better accord with the spirit of
the Church, if these parts also through our own apathy are
unintelligible, the intrinsic character of the act for which
we are preparing will suggest pious sentiments that will
enable us to pass the time with substantial profit to
our souls.
But, be it that there is some little disadvantage in having the
mass in a dead language, what I have said, I think, abundantly
proves at least that it is not very great. Look, on the
other hand, at the immense advantages gained by keeping
it uniform and without change, which implies keeping it in
the language in which it was first established. By this,
uniformity and steadiness are secured in the faith. The faith
of every nation embalmed, as I said before, in the liturgy,
is before the eyes of the universal church ; it is transmitted
untarnished from generation to generation. This uniform
and steady liturgy becomes as an anchor to which every
church is moored. As long as it clings to this it is safe.
And can any one who knows the value of faith, of that
faith for which legions of martyrs shed their blood, deem
the little loss that is sustained, if any, by our Latin liturgy,
not well compensated by the stability of faith which it secures.
For this reason, though the world in the apostolic days was even
more divided in language than it is now, yet in those times,
as we know from all antiquity, the liturgy was celebrated
only in three languages-^-the three languages of the cross.
These are, the Hebrew, in its cognate dialects, which are
but branches of the one Semitic tongue, as a homage to the
ancient dispensation ; the Greek, which was the language of
civilization of that age, and that adopted in the New Tes-
tament ; and the Latin, which was the language of the peo-
ple whose capital was to be the seat of the government of
the Church of the New Dispensation. In these three lan-
guages was written the inscription over the bloody sacrifice
on Calvary ; in these, and in no others from the beginning,
was the unbloody one offered to God by the church. No
others having been adopted was a clear proof that in the
apostolic view it was not deemed necessary that all should
understand the language used in the sacred mysteries ; and,
when even these ceased to be popular languages anywhere,
what had always been the condition of the great number,
became the condition of all.
The Catholic Ceremonial. 541
In after ages a few exceptions, and only a few, were
permitted or rather tolerated. The liturgy was allowed to
be celebrated in one other language in Asia, the Armenian ; in
two in Africa, the Coptic and the Ethiopic : and in one
in Europe, the Slavonic. No others were used. But these
were exceptional cases — they occurred at a later period, and
under peculiar circumstances, showing rather the sufferance
than the genuine spirit of the church, while she cordially
adopted from the beginning, and ever clung to the three
languages of the cross.
It is both beautiful and useful to the Catholic to assist
at the divine offices in the same language, and in the main,
with the same rites, in which they have been performed for
eighteen hundred years. They seem like the voice of the
martyrs, the confessors, the saints who have lived through
these eighteen centuries. They echo their faith and their
devotion. We feel that in them we are breathing the life
of a church now and ever spread throughout the whole world,
everywhere offering to God one sacrifice of praise.
A dignitary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in this
country has lately written an angry letter against those of
his brethren who are called "Ritualists," because they are
anxious to introduce into their church many Catholic, or,
as he calls them, "Romish" ceremonies. His ground of com-
plaint is, that behind these ceremonies stand the doctrines
of the Catholic Church. " Their course," he says, " means
return to what the reformation cast out with indignation."
" It means Romanism in all its strength and substance,"
and he enumerates the various doctrines which it implies, which
he considers abominations. I do not wish to pronounce an
opinion on the extent to which his remarks are justifiable
in their application to the parties against whom he writes ; but
he is certainly right in believing that behind the Catholic
ritual stands Catholic doctrine, which is nothing else but
Christian doctrine; and as the reformation "cast out" many
of the rites in use in the Christian family from the begin-
ning, with them it "cast out" a great portion of the Chris-
tian dogma. The good man's charge will only make those
who preserve the dogma see more clearly the value of the
rites in which it is enshrined, and cling more tenaciously
to dogmas thus shown to be coeval with Christianity.
Every rite has thus a lesson, and becomes an act of
devotion. The cross above our churches and our altars,
continually reappearing in all our ceremonies, impresses on
us the incarnation, death, and atonement of Christ crucified,
as the great central point of all religion. To this we are
542 The Cattiolic Ceremonial.
stantly brought back in every prayer which concludes by
asking what we demand, through Jesus Christ, the familiar
closing of which, the "per omnia scecula sceculorum" known to
every child, calls forth from all, the heartfelt Amen! To
this, and to what should accompany it, the Catholic is con-
stantly directed by the ceremonial. The church bell, signed
with the cross, and anointed with oil, which is a symbol of
Christ, swings in the tower, and as his messenger, calls us
in his name to his house — now, ringing out with joy, when
some great mystery is to be commemorated — now, in deep
solemn notes, to pray for one of his departed members.
Three times every day it summonses us to the recital of the
Angelus, in which we commemorate the great mystery of
the incarnation, and invoke the merits of the Saviour's
death, and ask the benefit of his resurrection. If we enter
the church, the font at the door, from which we take a
drop of blessed water to sprinkle our foreheads, is itself a
sermon on the purity with which we should approach, and
bids us cleanse our souls before we come near to him in
prayer. The burning lamp speaks to us of him who is the
light of the world, now dwelling on the altar, as well as of
the constant fire of devotion, and pure adoration, due to
the present God. The priest whom you see at the altar,
clad in those quaint old vestments, tells you at a glance
that you are in the presence of a worship that has come
down from the remotest ages. The burning lights on the
altar, which have now become an emblem of gladness, speak
to you of the catacombs, in which our fathers took refuge,
and preserved for us the sacred deposit, at the cost of pro-
perty, of liberty, and of life.
Like old heirlooms, with their quaint old forms and their
several indentations, these vestments and rites tell at the
same time of their real antiquity and of the many vicissi-
tudes through which they have passed. They are not like
those imitations of the antique in use amongst some of our
friends, got up by studying ancient drawings and descriptions,
having all the inconvenience without anything of the ven-
erable character of what is truly ancient. With us they are
inherited through uninterrupted use from the beginning. What-
ever changes have occurred in minor details, only render
them more venerable, for if on the one hand we are brought
back to ancient days, these are marks of the many
ages through which they have passed. Everything in the
rites of the church is fraught with instruction, with de-
votion. It enables you to know, and what is better, to prac-
tice— for while it teaches, it leads you to love and adore.
Questions regarding the present Jubilee. 543
Do you wish to know the efficacy of that ceremonial ? Look
at those who have been nursed under its training. See the
all-pervading influence of religion, that exists among them.
Long and powerful discourses make men skilful talkers and
ardent partisans. Those who have been reared under a
divinely inspired ritual have religion deeply engraven on
their hearts. It takes possession and enters into the whole
nature of the man ; and even when he gives way to the
allurements of iniquity, it retains its hold on him. This
may indeed make him appear, and be, an inconsistent object
of pity or of scorn. But, happy inconsistency ! For if he will
not be consistent in good, far better that he be inconsis-
tent or not consistent in evil. He would otherwise become
a monster. The links by which he is yet bound to what
is good, may one day draw him within the pale of that
mercy to which no sinner appealed in vain, before which
no sinner is too great to be pardoned.
To the Catholic, in every position, the ceremonial is light
and nourishment — a plentiful source of vigor and life.
QUESTIONS REGARDING THE PRESENT
JUBILEE.
The following questions which were proposed to the Sacred
Penitentiary, Rome, will, with the answers given to them, be
interesting to the clergy at the present moment : —
"Occasione Jubilaei indicti die na Aprilis, 1369, dubia,
quae sequuntur, S. Poenitentiariae fuerunt proposita:
" i. An inter facultates pro Jubilaeo concessas contineatur
facultas absolvendi poenitentes ab haeresi ? Resp. Affirma-
tive, abjuratis prius, et retractatis erroribus prout de jure.
"2. An tempore Jubilaei, ille, qui vi Jubilaei ejusdem fuerit
a censuris et a casibus reservatis absolutus, si iterum incidat
in casus et censuras reservatas, possit secunda vice absolvi
peragens iterum opera injuncta ? Resp. Negative.
"3. An ille, qui lucratus jam fuerit prima vice Indul-
gentiam Jubilaei, possit earn iterum lucrari si repetat opera
injuncta ? Resp. Affirmative.
"4. An Confessarii uti possint facultatibus extraordinariis
erga eum qui petat quidem absolvi et dispensari ; quique
544 Correspondence.
tarn en non habeat voluntatem peragendi opera injuncta et
lucrandi Jubilaeum ? JResp. Negative.
" Datum Romae in S. Poenitentiaria die I Junii, 1869.
ANTONIUS MARIA CARD. PANEBIANCO,
Poenitentiarius Major,
L. CAN. PEIRANO,
5. P. Secretarial
We may add in reply to queries addressed to us from
various quarters, that : —
ist. The fast and other works enjoined for gaining the
Indulgences of the Jubilee, must be performed within one
week.
2nd. To gain these Indulgences it is not necessary to per-
form the enjoined works in any particular place, ex. gr. he
who has fasted for one day in Cork, and is obliged to go to
Kilkenny or elsewhere on business, may complete there the
works enjoined for the Jubilee, without repeating those which
he had already performed in Cork. In the same way a
stranger, coming for instance to Dublin, may gain the Indul-
gences by performing here the various prescribed works.
3rd. The Indulgences may be gained either in the same or in
different places, as many times as the various prescribed
works are repeated.
CORRESPONDENCE.
WHERE IS THE MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBAN ?
To the Editors of the "Irish Ecclesiastical Record."
GENTLEMEN, — Undoubtedly one of the most interesting
MSS. in connection with Catholic Ireland is, " 'The Missal of
St. Columbanus." The July issue of the Dublin Review, in
a notice of Dr. Moran's learned Essays on the Early Irish
Church, repeats a statement of Dr. Lanigan's, that Mabillon
found the Missal in the Library of Bobbio, and that it
was then upwards of a thousand years old. "From the
Monastery at Bobbio," the D. Review goes on to say, " It
was brought by Cardinal Frederick Borromeo to the Am-
brosian Library, at Milan." Where is it now? It is not in
that Library. Within the past month, the writer examined the
ancient MSS. deposited there, and found a copy of the
Missal of Columbanus, dating from the tenth century, and
certified • by the signature of the librarian of Bobbio, as
Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. 545
" the Missal of Columbanus, Bobbio." Enquiries made of the
learned ecclesiastic in charge of the MSS. brought out the
reply, that the original was probably in the Imperial Lib-
rary <at Paris. Diligent search made subsequently there
led to disappointments, as the Imperial Library does not
contain either the original work, or any MS. copy of it.
The great value and interest attaching to this venerable
monument of our ancient church, induces the writer to
ask the question, which heads this short letter.
VIATOR.
[It must have been through inadvertence, that our es-
teemed correspondent relied on the statement of the Dub-
lin Review, and enquired at the Ambrosian Library, Milan,
for the Missal of St. Columban. The Irish MSS. in the
Ambrosian Library were brought thither from Bobbio by
Cardinal Frederick Borromeo, before the close of the six-
teenth century. It was more than a century later that the
learned Mabillon, when visiting the Monastery of Bobbio,
found this famous Missal of the sixth century, among the
few remaining MSS. which still enriched its Library. There
can be but little doubt that Mabillon bore off with him this
prize, and it is probable that it is now preserved with
the other MSS. of the Monastery of St, Germain, in the Im-
perial Library of Paris. Mabillon tells us that this MS. had
no title, and it was merely for the convenience of referring
to it that he gave it in his printed text, the arbitrary name
of " Sacra mentarium Gallicanum" We mention this, lest any
of our readers, whilst seeking for this venerable monument
of our early church, should limit their researches to a bare
enquiry for the Missal of St. Columban.]
DECREE OF THE SACRED CONGREGATION OF
RITES.
It results from the following important Decree of the S. Con-
gregation of Rites, which reached us just as we were going to
Press, that the prayer, De Spiritu Sancto, which was ordered
to be offered up throughout the Catholic world, in preparation
for the approaching Ecumenical Council, is to be considered
as de re gravi, and hence is to be inserted in all Masses, ex-
cepting only those of Requiem : —
"De Missa Spiritus Sancti quam Sanctissimus Dominus
546 Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.
Noster Pius Papa IX. Litteris Apostolicis in forma Brevis
datis die II aprilis anhi 1869. omnibus Ecclesiis Capitulari-
bus et conventualibus Urbis et Orbis praeter consetam
Conventualem celebrandam qualibet Feria V. injunxit, et
de Collecta de eodem Spiritu Sancto ir Missis quotidie ad-
denda, sequentia Dubia Sacrorum Rituum Congregationi ex-
hibita fuerunt, nimirum :
" Dubium I. An praedicta Missa votiva de Spiritu Sancto
debeat esse cantata vel lecta ?
" Dubium II. An huic Missae addi debeat Gloria et Credo ?
" Dubium III. An haec Missa omittenda sit in octavis pri-
vilegiatis Paschatis et Epiphaniae, itemque Nativitatis et Cor-
poris Christi, praesertim si est lecta ?
" Dubium IV. Qua hora haec Missa celebrari debeat ?
" Dubium V. An in hac Missa unica Oratio vel plures ut
in Missis votivis dici debeant ?
" Dubium VI. An sit onus impositum Canonicis vel potius
Ecclesiae ?
" Dubium VII. In Ecclesiis praesertim Sanctimonialium, in
quibus attentis temporum circumstantiis una Missa vix potest
celebrari, quid fieri debeat ? quaenam omittenda ?
" Dubium VIII. An collecta de Spiritu Sancto debeat omitti
in diebus primae et secundae Classis ?
" Haec autem dubia 'quum subscriptus Secretarius retulisset
in Ordinariis Sacrorum Rituum Comitiis subsignata die ad
Vaticanum habitis Emi ac Rmi Patres Sacris tuendis Ritibus
praepositi, audito prius voto alterius ex Apostolicarum Caere-
moniarum Magistris scripto exarato typisque evulgato rescri-
bendum censuerunt :
" Ad. I. In omnibus Cathedralibus et in Collegiatis ubi
quotidie canitur Missa Conventualis, cantari debet etiam Missa
de Spiritu Sancto : in aliis Ecclesiis in Brevi Apostolico de-
signatis, haec Missa debet legi vel cani prout legitur vel
canitur Missa Conventualis.
"Ad II. In casu tarn in Missa cum cantu quam in Missa
sine cantu addatur Gloria et Credo.
"Ad III. Standum est praescriptioni Brevis, ideoque singulis
Feriis V. in quibus non occurrat Duplex primae vel secundae
Classis, est celebranda, etiamsi celebretur lecta,
" Ad IV. Cantetur, aut legatur post Nonam, et etiam post
omnes Missas a Rubricis eadem die praescriptas.
" Ad V. In casu dici debet una tantum Oratio tarn in Missa
cum cantu, quam in Missa sine cantu.
" Ad VI. Est onus Ecclesiae, et haberi debet ut pars servitii
choralis.
"Ad VII. Moniales non comprehendi.
Document. 547
"Ad VIII, Negative et in Festis primae Classis dici debet
sub unica conclusione ; in Festis vero secundae Classis cum
propria conclusione. Atque ita rescripserunt. Die 3. Julii
1869.
" Facta autem per me infrascriptum Secretarium de prae-
missis Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Pio Papae IX. relatione,
Sanctitas Sua Sacrae Congregations responsa approbavit, con-
firmavit ac servari mandavit Die 8 iisdem Mense et Anno."
C. EPISCOPUS PORTUEN. ET S. RUFINAE CARD.
PATRIZI, S. R. C. PRAEFECTUS.
Dominicus Bartholini, S. R. C.
Secretarius.
DOCUMENT.
SANCTISSIMI DOMINI NOSTRI PII DIVINA PRO-
VIDENTIA PAPAE IX. ALLOCUTIO HABITA
IN CONSISTORIO SECRETO. (25th June, 1869).
VENERABILES FRATRES.
Novam, et catholicae Ecclesiae, eiusque immunitati, liber-
tati, et iuribus, ac vel ipsi civili . societati maxime infestam
legem a Subalpino Gubernio editam, ac promulgatam cum
summo animi Nostri dolore in hoc amplissimo vestro consessu
deplorare cogimur, Venerabiles Fratres. Atque hie Nos
loquimur de lege, qua idem Gubernium, post tot ac innumeros
fere ausus, et iniurias Ecclesiae, eiusque sacris ministris, re-
busque illatas, Clericos militari conquisitioni subiicere non
dubitavit. Ecquis non videt quam damnosa, et quam hostilis
Ecclesiae sit haec lex, quae Ecclesiae ius ab ipso Christo
Domino ei tributum impedit, et coarctat eligendi idoneos, ac
necessarios ministros, qui ab eodem Christo ad divinam uam
religionem tuendam, propagandam, ad animarum salutem
usque ad consummationem saeculi procurandam constituti
fuerunt ; quaeque potissimum eo unice spectare videtur, ut in
hac infelicissima Italia, si fieri unquam posset, catholica Ec-
clesia funditus deleatur et exterminetur ?
Nobis certe verba desunt ad eiusmodi legem denuo impro-
bandam ac detestandam. Quisque noscit, Nos pro Apostolici
Nostri ministerii munere haud omisisse Nostro officio studio-
sissime perfungi, et omnes Venerabiles Fratres sacrorum in
548 Document.
Italia Antistites cum summa eorum nominis laude iustissimas
suas fecisse querelas, r'eclamationes, et expostulationes, ut
huiusmodi lex nunquam locum haberet. Atque utinam hac
occasione abstinere Nos possemus, Venerabiles Fratres, a
lugendis gravissimis mails et damnis, quibus sanctissima
nostra religio nunc in Austriaco etiam Imperio et Hungariae
Regno miserandum in modum affligitur ac divexatur. Noti-
tiae autem, quae de Ecclesiae rebus ex Hispaniarum Regno
ad Nos perveniunt, nullam consolationem, quin immo tristi-
tiam et moerorem Nobis afferunt
Russicum vero Gubernium pergit catholicam insectari
Ecclesiam, et ab omnibus fere Dioecesibus suos, vi etiam
adhibita, eiicere Episcopos, eosque in exilium pellere, propte-
reaquod Christi hie in terris Vicarii vocem ac mandata, prout
debent, audire et exequi volunt, nee sinit eosdem Episcopos
ab illis Imperii finibus egredi, etiamsi maxima Ecclesiae
utilitas id omnino postulet. Ac magis in dies omni modo
impedit, quominus illi fideles cum Nobis et hac Apostolica
Sede libere communicare queant.
Sed inter gravissimas, quibus vexamur, angustias, non
mediocri certe solatio Nobis est pastoralis zelus, summopere
laudandus, quo Sacrorum Antistites rem catholicam viriliter
tutantur, et sanctissimae fidei nostrae principia integra servare
et Ecclesiae unitatem propugnare contendunt adversus multi-
plices insidias et conatus, quibus impii homines suos errores
propagare connituntur. Ac futurum confidimus, ut universus
catholicus Clerus illustria Episcoporum suorum exempla pro
viribus imitari, et aemulari conetur.
Interim istos omnes Christi, eiusque Sanctae Ecclesiae
hostes etiam atque etiam monemus, ut tandem aliquando
serio considerent quam terribilis sit Deus in suis, eiusque
Ecclesiae, hostibus puniendis.
Nos autem non desistamus, Venerabiles Fratres, ferventis-
simis, humillimisque precibus misericordiarum Patrem orare
et obsecrare, ut omnes miseros errantes de perditionis via ad
rectum veritatis, iustitiae, salutisque tramitem reducat, utque
catholicam Ecclesiam ubique terrarum novis ac splendidioribus
triumphis quotidie magis exornet et augeat.
[NE W SERIES^
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
SEPTEMBER, 1869,
SOGARTH AROON.
LECTURE, DELIVERED ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY, 1869,
BY REV. M. O'CONNOR, s.j.
WHETHER we consider this day as dedicated to religion
or to patriotism, the subject on which I intend addressing you
appears to me appropriate. Religion is brought home to
every one by no agency more powerfully than by that of the
priest. Patriotism, I hesitate not to say, has been cherished,
strengthened and propagated in Ireland by no body or class
more effectually than by the priesthood. The hallowed
recollections of this day, therefore, make us turn naturally to
him in whom religion and patriotism are embodied with so
much power, to our own " Sogarth Aroon."1 It is unneces-
sary to speak to you of the feelings of those who know him
best — the people, with whom and for whom he lives and
labors, whose good opinion is therefore most honorable. To
call them respect, veneration, confidence, would be but tame
words. We must see the glow of the countenance, the open
hand, the warm heart, with which he is met. We must see
how the wildest outburst of passion is checked, frequently
subdued, how the moral feeling is evoked by his word, and
even when not gaining the ascendancy, how it gives evidence
of the power that is resisted. We should see what he is able
to induce the people to do and to suffer, and this in the
untoward circumstances of Ireland.
1 These words signify literally, Priest dear. They constitute the title by which
the Irish people express their fond esteem for him.
VOL. r. 27
550 The Irish Priest,
These feelings are all expressed in the words which I have
chosen for the title of my lecture, not so much on account of
their literal meaning, as because the feelings that exist have
clustered around them and find expression in them, as is the
case with many other words which derive significance more
from the known character of what they refer to, than from
their literal meaning.
It cannot be uninteresting to study the sources of the
influence of this priest, so much loved, so much hated, so much
prized, so much despised, according to the stand-point from
which he is viewed, an influence which nothing hitherto has
been able to destroy.
There is no doubt that it has its first root in the people's
conviction of the high dignity of the essential character of his
office.
The priest acts as the agent of God in regenerating the soul
when it first comes into the world, in guiding and protecting
it during its whole earthly career, in strengthening it when it
is about to go before its God. Religion, with its sublime
truths, its saving institutions, its joys, its hopes, and its conso-
lations, is brought home to us in all our trials and necessities,
in our various positions in life and in death, through his
instrumentality. No wonder that with such associations he
should be dear to all who value these things, if he be but true
to his calling.
The Irish priest, thank God, has come up to this require-
ment in an eminent degree. He has been true to the God
whom he served, true to the people to whom he ministered.
He has been true in adversity, in many toils and stripes ; true
when calumny blackened him, when the persecutor dogged his
steps, when banishment or death stared him in the face. He
has been true to them in administering to their spiritual
wants, in the discharge of the immediate duties of his calling.
He has been true to them in whatever part he took in their
public or private affairs. For, though the traitor, worming
himself into the people's confidence, and betraying them at the
critical moment, has been the great bane of Ireland from the
earliest days of her history down to this very year of grace in
which we live, I have yet to learn that any such were ever
found among her consecrated priests, who retained their
position in the Church.
But the attachment of the Irish people to their priests may
be said to be special even amongst good Catholics. It must,
therefore, have special causes. It is to these that we must
direct our attention to-night.
The habits, and feelings, and principles of nations have
The Irish Priest. 55 1
generally their roots in the distant past, though they are
strengthened or modified by the present. It is in this that
we must seek a full explanation of the feelings of the Irish
people towards their priests.
The brightest pages in the nation's history are illumined by
their lives and their deeds. When the name of Ireland was
illustrious throughout the civilized world, when from all parts
of Europe, youth flocked in crowds to her shores to be trained
in learning and in virtue, when her sons, to use the expression of
an ancient continental writer, spread themselves like swarms
over the continent of Europe, carrying everywhere the torch of
religion and civilization, the priests were foremost in the work.
And these days are not forgotten. Not only does history
record them, they yet live in the national traditions. Those
monks of old, who spent their time in prayer, in study, and in
labor, spread over the hills and valleys of Ireland, so that the
whole land seemed but a sanctuary from which an unceasing
song of praise was ascending from earth to heaven, are
remembered yet by the people, and from the ruins of their
ancient abbeys they exercise an influence on the national
feelings.
But to come down to the sad days that exert a more im-
mediate influence on the present, when persecution raged, and
the people were plundered and banished or slaughtered with
a cruelty that has scarcely a parallel amongst civilized or
savage nations, the priests were with them, soothing, con-
soling, encouraging, and not only sharing but foremost in their
sufferings. The course then pursued by them established
them in the affections of the people in a manner that centuries
cannot efface.
A thrill of horror runs through the veins, when we read, as
I have been lately reading, some of the details of those awful
times. Men and women, and even children slaughtered in
cold blood, and in defiance of the most solemn engagements,
and that by thousands in one place after another — persons of
every class, that escaped the sword, deprived of all they had,
driven into a barren corner of the island, or, if in spite of all
threats and ill usuage they clung around the home of their
childhood, subjected to a treatment that was scarcely less
terrible than death — the extermination of the whole race cooly
resolved on, and endeavoured to be carried out as far as their
enemies were able — the country laid waste and become
literally a howling wilderness, in which the dogs lived on the
human bodies with which the land was covered by slaughter,
by famine, or by pestilence, and wolves became so numerous
and ravenous as to make it almost uninhabitable — and over
552 The Irish P nest.
all this desolation, the.hypocritical cry raised in thanksgiving
to God for His mercies in enabling the " Saints " to execute
His judgments on His enemies ! Such are a few of the
outlines of the picture. But horrid as are all its features, the
treatment of the priests surpassed in horrors that of all the
rest. Special penalties were inflicted on them, special means
adopted to detect them, special cruelty exercised on them
when found. It was death to protect or even to harbour
them. It was penal, and if repeated, it was death to know
where they were concealed, and not denounce them ; yet they
clung to their posts. Not to compromise their people too
much, they sought refuge in the cavern, at the hill-side, in the
bog, or in the forest, sometimes in the family tomb. From
these they would sally out as occasion required or permitted
to attend to the people, or they would administer the conso-
lations of religion to those who came there to avail themselves
of their ministry. From these same they were dragged to
execution. Or, when the voice of the civilized world was
raised against this barbarity, to save their lives, they were
sometimes permitted or forced to expatriate themselves,
though not unfrequently the captains of the vessels to whom
they were consigned, were instructed to fling them overboard,
when in mid sea.
Without alluding to those of whom we have no special
record, we have the names of many hundreds of priests exe-
cuted amidst tortures that would have disgraced the North
American Indians, and thousands were driven into exile or
held captives in the islands along the coast.
Yet the priests did not abandon the people. As long as it
was possible, those who could conceal themselves, no matter
what the risk or the sacrifice, remained at home to console and
strengthen them. Many who were studying in the schools of
Rome and Louvain and Salamanca, and other places, flew into
the breach. Many even occupy ing chairs in these Universities
and other honorable positions, gave up all and risked all to fly
to the rescue, and went home to carry consolation to the people
and share in their privations.
And when the penal laws took the place of the trooper's
sword and torture, when that system was adopted which
Edmund Burke has designated as "a machine of wise and
elaborate contrivance, and as well fitted for the oppression,
impoverishment, and degradation of a people, and the debase-
ment in them of human nature, as ever proceeded from the
perverted ingenuity of man," the priest was the one who, above
all, was aimed at. Others suffered for his sake and he for
theirs, and both for what was dearer to them than life.
T}ie Irish Priest. 553
The priest was true to the people, and the people were true
to the priest. Even when death stared them in the face, they
were ready to receive and protect him. Pinched with poverty,
no bribe could induce them to betray him, or if they betrayed
him it was only by their indiscreet love, when the blood-hounds
followed them unseen, while they sought his ministrations in
the cavern or in the bog. But even then, they were ready to
die with him whom they unwillingly betrayed. Thus Ludlow,
at Castleblaney, discovered the hiding place of a priest, who
had taken refuge in a cavern, and was surrounded by a few
poor people, who had come there to hear Mass. The monster
himself relates, in his memoirs, how he spent two days in
endeavouring " to smoke them out." But they preserved life
by placing their mouths near some running water that passed
through the cave. When the besiegers entered, they found only
one quite dead. There were fifteen others almost suffocated,
yet showing some signs of life, and these were immediately
despatched. But among the priest-hunters and priest-killers
and priest-betrayers, you will look in vain for a truly Irish
name, or if you find one such, and can trace its history, it will
invariably appear that it belonged to one of those few, who
first sacrificed their religion, or of those who had been seized
in their infancy by the English enemy, and trained to blaspheme
the religion of their fathers, and hate their native land. No
bribes, no threats, no fears, no promises could induce the sons
of Ireland, whose faith had not been first corrupted, to betray
their priests, as none could induce these to betray or abandon
their people.
It may be said that these things happened a long time ago,
and have nothing to do with the present state of things, while
it is of the present I am expected to speak. But it is not so
long after all. The overthrow of what preceded, and the
establishment by Cromwell of the new order of things, is not
much more than four times as far back as I and many of you
can remember. Very few intervening links connect us with it.
It is not as long ago as the establishment of many of the
English colonies on this continent, to whose history and pro-
ceedings friends and foes point for an explanation of the
present characteristics of the population of this country, though
this has received many accessions from other sources in the
meantime, while the Irish Catholic people has, in a far greater
degree, retained its identity and thus keeps its tradition alive,
and feels the influence of the past. The effect of the proceed-
ings of those days has been and is felt in the distribution and
transmission of property, in the means adopted for the enact-
ment and execution of laws, in all the movements of the social
554 Tlie Irish Priest.
body, where classes were fixed and change made more difficult
by them, and all these 'last in a great measure to this day.
The savage ferocity of the penal laws was abandoned, but
the spirit long survived in less cruel, but scarcely less annoying
provisions. It may be said to survive yet in the great mass of
the descendants of the Cromwellian troopers, who seized the
lands and rioted in the blood of the Catholic population.
Contemporary writers tell us that these men were the dregs
of English Society. Not even bigotry, blind as it is, would have
led an average population to the excesses of which they were
guilty. Such was the deposit left in Ireland by the Cromwellian
inundation. If history did not record this fact, the heartless
tyranny exercised by their descendants by cruel evictions, and
in many other ways, would show what blood flows in their
veins. By them, or through their influence, laws without
number have been enacted and yet remain in force to protect
them in their property and their sports and their whims, to
protect their hares and their hounds, while no effectual barrier
was ever raised between their cruelty and the lives of the poor
that were left at their mercy.
Nor is it so long ago since the penal laws were in force. I
remember hearing from eye-witnesses many instances of the
operation of these laws. Bishop England tells us that his
own father was put in prison for the crime of teaching school.
Father Peter O'Neill, a worthy parish priest of a parish near
Youghal, who under their operation had been flogged through
the streets of that town and then transported, yet survived in
our day. O'Connell once proposed the health of this good
old man at a public dinner at Youghal, and having given a
vivid description of his sufferings, received from him an expres-
sive though inadverted compliment. The old man hearing the
eloquent description of his own sufferings, cried out, " It is all
true, but I never knew before that I suffered so much ! ! "
Down to our own times, priests and people have thus suffered
together. They have suffered faithfully, true to one another.
They were calumniated together, were robbed together, were
trampled upon together, were together made outcasts and
helots in their native land, the priest, through his anxiety to
serve the people, bearing the brunt of the battle. No wonder
that they are united in love, now that the sacred ties which
arise from the essential bearing of the sacerdotal office are, if
possible, rendered more sacred by a community of suffering
under all kind of calumny and proscription.
It is related in the fable, that the wolves once wished to
make a treaty of peace with the sheep. The first article they
proposed was, that the sheep should dismiss their dogs.
The Irish Priest. 555
" But for these," they said, " we might live in uninterrupted
peace. Scarcely do we come to pay you a visit when these
dogs begin to bark and to howl, and friendly communication
becomes impossible." Such are the terms of peace proposed
by the enemies of Irish Catholics. " These priests," they say,
" are the cause of all the mischief. But for them we might dwell
in uninterrupted peace. Send them away, and we shall be the
best of friends." To accomplish this, and to secure the peace
that it would lead to, has been the aim, and is now, in a great
measure, the aim of those who control the destinies of the
country, whether in or out of the government. But the people
of Ireland are as unwilling now as their fathers were to accept
such a peace. They know what it means, they spurn and
detest it
As proposals were made to the sheep to dismiss the dogs,
attempts were made to withdraw the dogs from the care of
the sheep. The priest was devoted to the people. The
people divided with him what they had. When they were
poor, he lived with them sharing their poverty, partaking of
their scanty board, and all were contented or resigned, if not
happy together. When the people had more means, the priest
was amongst the first to partake of their abundance. They
shared it with him with joy and pride. Then came the
wolves anxious for alliance with him. "Why depend," they
said to him, " on this precarious and humiliating means of
support that makes you as a menial and a slave ? " They
were willing to open to him the national treasury and assign
to him from it a respectable and abundant support. But the
priest knew what the offer meant, and he spurned the bribe.
If he must be a dependant, he preferred depending on the
voluntary offerings of those whom he served, of the people whom
he loved and by whom he was loved in return, rather than on
those who sought to make him independent that he might cease
to be identified with them, and be their natural guardian.
The priests of Ireland accepted one gift and one only,
because they knew that this could not deprive them of their
independence, nor deaden their interest in the people. The
farmer or shopkeeper's son went to Maynooth with all the
deep feelings arising from a knowledge of the injuries of his
race. He prepared himself for a career in which after his
short probation he would find himself as free as any man to
do his best to redress them. If, during the brief time spent in
college, he ate of the Queen's mutton, and saved some of the
expense of his education to himself and the people, he felt
that it was but a small instalment of what was due to them.
He might, indeed, and no doubt did, feel ready to acknowledge
556 The Irish Priest.
even with gratitude, and make proper return for any further
instalment of justice that would be added, but it would be a
poor compliment to his own manliness, or to that of the race
whose blood flowed in his veins, if it were thought that this
paltry grant could make him satisfied, or deaden in him the
feelings created by the oppression of seven hundred years ; and
facts have proved that it did not. Hence, Maynooth is
denounced as a failure for the chief purpose intended by the
government.
But while the clergy of Ireland accepted this one grant that
did not interfere with their independence, they spurned the
offer to become salaried officials, and thus hirelings and slaves
of the State. Nay, when lately some English statesman, to
save the tottering Protestant establishment, proposed, as they
expressed it, to " level up," that is, to raise the Catholic clergy
to the level of the establishment by liberal allowances of
public money, and others proposed to divide with them its
property, the Irish bishops unanimously resolved not to accept
either proposal. They knew that neither plan could be carried
out without separating the priests from the people, and thus
forfeiting, to some degree, their confidence, and this they
valued more than silver or gold or broad domains. The
Catholic clergy to-day thus show themselves as ever deter-
mined not to be separated from the people, to be one with
them, to seek or accept no boon that would create a difference
of interests or feelings. The people on their part cling to
their priests, and will enter into no treaty with the wolves
based on their dismissal. They value their labors, they
appreciate their devotedness. They value first of all their
ministrations in the discharge of the essential duties of their
office, they value them in their application to their special
wants. They know that in the priest they have a friend, in
whom they can rely beyond all others, whenever counsel or
aid is required, and as such they cling to him.
They look on the priest as the last and only remaining link
of the glorious past. Their property has been taken from
them by their enemies. Their laws and institutions have
perished. Their chieftains, whose lineage and noble bearing
inspired them with so much pride, are gone. Their churches,
their ancient establishments of learning and charity, are
levelled, or their ruins remain only to adorn the landscape ;
or if a few yet stand, they are worse than lost, for they have
been made the homes of a hostile faith. The green fields and
beautiful hills and rich valleys of their native land are there,
but they are there only to mock the poverty to which the
people have been reduced, for they scarcely have any share in
The Irish Priest. 557
their teeming fertility. As it suits the fancy, the gain, the
hatred or the bigotry of their enemies, they are driven into
the hovels of the town, or to the poor-house, or scattered over
the world. Every thing, in a word, that in other days made
Ireland happy or glorious is almost gone from the people,
except their noble church, and this is represented by the
priest. This priest connects them with the days when a
Columba civilized and evangelized the northern parts of Great
Britain, when a Columbanus and his companions and followers,
like shining stars, spread the light of learning and religion over
France and many other countries, and made the name of
their native land cherished and revered throughout the
civilized world. The priest recalls the days of persecution —
sad indeed if we consider all the sufferings which they brought
over the land, but bright and glorious, if we consider the
constancy of the martyrs, and their success in preserving and
transmitting the priceless jewel of holy faith.
It was under the guidance of their priests that their battle
for the faith was fought and the victory won, which makes
them feel that though often in poverty and in tatters, they
carry souls more noble than the descendants of the troopers who
riot in ill-gotten plunder. The priest recalls all this : no
wonder that he is loved.
But it is not merely on memories of the past that the respect
for him is based. The battle for their faith and their morals
is waged to-day, though in another form, almost as fiercely as
in the days of Cromwell and the penal laws, and the priest is
in the van and leads them to victory. Troopers are not going
about as in former times with halberds, on which the bodies of
infants are transfixed, enforcing the proclamation that doomed
men to " Hell or Connaught," but delicate ladies are going
round the cabins of the poor, demanding control of their
children with gentle but clear hints, that " Pa " cannot keep
any one on the estate who does not send his children to their
school, that is, to a school where they shall be deprived of
their faith. " Not keeping them on the estate," however,
means levelling their cabins, driving them out on the public
road, consigning them to hunger and starvation, so that the
same end is reached by these delicate ladies as by the troopers
of Cromwell. Bribing by situations and salaries and good
places and presents, which are known to be gained by those who
would fall away and are kept within the view of the thousands
famishing for bread, is in full operation. The knife is not put
to the throat, but the poor man is left to pine away if he be
faithful, and he is made to feel effectually that apostacy would
procure relief for all his misery. It is unnecessary to say that
558 The Irish Priest.
to preserve a whole population against all this is an arduous
undertaking, that hard and persevering work, nay, ingenuity
of every kind is necessary for success. People talk of incul-
cating truth by mild persuasion, and complain of the rough
harangues of Irish priests. But when the stomach is appealed
to on one side, when the harrowing cries of the children
asking for food, pierce a father or mother's heart, day after
day, and night after night ; when a damp floor, with scarce a
covering on their bodies, forms their dreary bed, when even
the roof that afforded but partial shelter is about being torn
down, and nothing is required to step into every comfort but
to go take some bread and wine in yon building designated
as a church, or even less than that, to send their children to be
clothed and fed, and taught by her ladyship, and her daughters,
or by their nominees, who under the guise of imparting educa-
tion are determined to rob them of their faith, it requires
something more than sweet talk on the other side, to man
them for the struggle, and drive off their deceivers. Men
should realize the situation of priests and people before pro-
nouncing on the suitableness of the measures that are adopted.
The priests not only owe it to the strong to point out danger,
they owe it to the wavering to strengthen the moral principle ;
they owe it to those who may have fallen to recall them to a
sense of duty, they owe it to all to quicken and bring to bear
the public opinion of the humble circle in which they move,
which is frequently the last resource left them in their struggle
with power and with money, and this public opinion, humble
though it be, backed as it is by the whispering of their own
consciences, will support many who might otherwise be over-
come by the base temptations which their hearts despise, but
to which their misery might make them victims. It requires
something more than sweet talk to induce men and women,
who appear deaf to all feelings of humanity, to give up their
inhuman warfare against the poor.
This will explain and justify many of those scathing
appeals to which the priest finds it necessary to have recourse
to protect his people. I will not say that language has not
been used which in cool moments all will regret and some-
times perhaps justly blame. But all honorable men will
make great allowances even for some excess of feeling, when
such outrageous assaults are resisted, and will view only with
contempt the whining hypocrisy of those who catch at every
excited expression that escapes the victim, while they have
no word of reproach for the cool, deliberate, and persevering
cruelty with which wealth and every resource of legal power
are brought to bear to oppress.
The Irish Priest. 559
To the honor of Ireland, and Ireland's priests and people
be it said, that in this unequal struggle they have almost
universally baffled all the efforts of their enemies. It is but
just to their heroism, and it is fraught with a salutary lesson
to ourselves, priests or people or both, to contrast their
success with our failure in this matter which ought to make
our cheeks mantle with shame. Yes ! Ireland, in misery and
in chains, has suceeded in preserving her children much better
than we have done with all our vaunted liberty and affluence,
in the midst of which so many are allowed to grow up without
faith, and thousands and tens of thousands of the children of
our poor are taken away from us every year under the plea of
educating them or reforming them or providing for them, and
sold in the markets of the west to the highest bidders, and
this almost without a murmer — certainly without any adequate
resistance on our part. Ireland, trampled as she is in the
dust, would not bear this with equal patience — would not
bear it at all, no matter what the consequence. Our apathy
may bring upon us the chastisement of Heaven. The very
children whom we allowed to be torn from us may yet be the
instruments of God's just vengeance in punishing us. One of
the leaders of the mob that burned St. Augustin's Church in
this city,* had been baptised within its walls, and while the
flames were raging, he was rejoicing that the record of his
baptism was being consumed. Those children, whom we
allow to grow up without faith, may yet lead the bands that
will deprive us of our liberties, perhaps of our lives, either in
spite of or in accordance with the forms and the letter of law and
of the Constitution, and our consciences will only tell us that
we have but received our deserts.
Hard struggling on the part of the priests is often necessary
in Ireland in the work of preserving the people, but they have
been successful. I have known many cases where high
aristocrats, noble lords, and titled ladies, who were endeavour-
ing to pervert the people, were made to wince under the
scathing lashes inflicted by the priest and retire from the
contest, though they had on their side money, and property,
and access to the courts of law, crammed with their friends,
and the priest had on his side nothing but a stout heart and
the justice of his cause with the sympathies which his defence
of it was able to command from friend and foe.
This ingenuity sometimes assumes a shape that is amusing,
as is often the case in Ireland, even with what in other respects
is most sad and perplexing. I will mention one instance, the
* Philadelphia.
560 The Irish Priest.
details of which I heard related by the chief actor himself.
I will not undertake to defend it in every respect ; but when
men are driven into straits, they will do things that ought not
be scanned too closely. The occurrence illustrates the state
of things in Ireland.
In a certain parish in that country there was a ranting
parson who spared no pains to corrupt the faith of the poor
Catholics. Money, of course, was as usual the lever of every-
thing else. His zeal had recommended him to certain bigots
at a distance, and he was supplied with large sums for the
purpose of proselytizing. There being a great many poor in
the parish, it was naturally to be feared, that some would be
influenced by his bribes, and as the announcement of a few
converts would be sure to swell the donations made to him,
any amount spent in procuring them would be a good invest-
ment. In fact, two girls of more than doubtful reputation
were induced to go to the Protestant Church, one Sunday, and
receive communion at his hands, and these were hailed as the
first fruits of the " wholesale conversions " that were promised.
This gave pain to the priest. Though these parties were no
great loss, besides their being made worse, they were a
standing advertisement of what was to be gained by apostasy.
In looking for a remedy, he concluded that the most efficacious
would be to knock the bottom, if possible, out of the parson's
treasury, and to do this he adopted the following plan.
There was in the parish a certain number of Protestants,
comparatively poor, though of course, poverty amongst them
is quite a different thing from poverty among Catholics. But,
compared to their brethren they were poor, and such people
in those parts of Ireland are generally a very mean set.
They are hangers on the gentry. Their great ambition is to
be let into the kitchen, and receive small favors from "my
Lord," or " my Lady," or from the butler. They are ever
cringing to the great, and assuming lofty airs with their
Catholic acquaintances, feeling that, though on the lowest
round, they yet belong to the privileged class. They are
designated in Ireland as shonems, which expresses their
pompous airs, and their meanness. Now, Father Murphy, for
so I will call him, though that is not his name, thought that if
he could compel the parson to spend the sums he had at his
disposal on this class, he would deprive him in the most
effectual way of the means of bribing the poor Catholics, and
he knew that then diere was an end of his "conversions."
Looking for an opportunity of carrying this into execution, he
met on the public road one of these shoneens named Jemmy
something. The priest made him a very polite bow. " Good
The Irish Priest. 561
morning to you," he said, with marked politeness ; " Good
morning, sir," said Jemmy, looking rather surprised, that the
priest should recognize and salute him. " I am glad to see
you, Jemmy, I have been thinking a good deal about you of
late/' said the priest. " Why maybe you mistake me for
some one else, sir," said Jemmy. " Oh no ! " said the priest,
" you are Jemmy so-and-so, and I have been thinking. Jemmy,"
he continued, " that your condition could and ought to be
bettered considerably." "Why, I am obliged to you, sir,"
said Jemmy, " but I don't know what you mean, or what j/0#
can do for me." " Oh ! indeed, I am sure I can," said the
priest, "but, before I go any farther, Jemmy," he added, "I
want you to understand that I haven't the least notion of
asking you to turn Catholic, but, I think I can put you on the
way of bettering yourself, Jemmy, and you can remain as
staunch a Protestant, as the parson of the parish. Now,
isn't that fair, Jemmy ? " said Father Murphy. " It is very fair,
indeed," said Jemmy, " but, I don't know, sir, what you mean."
" Well," said Father Murphy, " you heard of these two girls
that went to Church last week," " Oh ! yes," said Jemmy,
straightening himself up, " and the whole country will soon
turn also," " Well ! " said the priest, " we needn't talk about
that, just now; but Jemmy," he continued, " don t you think
that the money they got, might have been laid out much
better on you, and the likes of you." That it was a money
transaction, was considered a matter of course ; there was no
necessity of arguing on that point, but Jemmy had not,
probably, looked at the bearing of the affair on himself before.
When, however, the idea was presented, he was ready at once
to admit it. " Well, sir ! I believe you are right, in that," he
replied, " but I don't know what you mean, or what you are
driving at." " Why ! said the priest, " I told you already,
Jemmy, that I don't want you to turn, but, though you don't
turn, Jemmy, do you think it would hurt you, if a report
went out that you were thinking of turning ? " " By the
hokie ! " says Jemmy, catching the plan at once, " I believe
you are right sir, but how can that be done ? " " Nothing is
easier," said Father Murphy, " you know where I live. Come
up to my house to-morrow, let somebody see you on the way.
We can talk over anything you please, and I'll engage you'll
not lose by it." Jemmy entered into the plan at once, and
next day wended his way to the priest's house. Not far from
it, he met a Catholic woman, from whom he inquired if Father
Murphy was at home. " Father Murphy ! why, what do you
want of Father Murphy ? " said the woman. " Oh ! " said
Jemmy "these times a man must be thinking of his soul."
562 The Irish Priest.
" Oh ! the Lord be praised ! " said the woman, " who would
have ever thought of Jemmy so-and-so turning Catholic." And
I need not tell you, that the news soon flew through the parish.
Jemmy, in the meantime, went to the priest's house, and after
a long talk the priest took him out to show him the chapel,
letting some passers-bye see him moving in and out. He took
him into the sacristy, and after some talk there, " this will be
your confession, Jemmy." he said. "Yes, this will be my
confession," says Jemmy, exulting in what he knew was to
come. Finally, he bade adieu to the priest, with the warmest
expressions of gratitude, for he knew well what was in store
for him. " Now, Jemmy," the priest said to him when he was
leaving, " there is one thing that I must request, and I hope
you will not refuse." " Oh ! by the powers ! " said Jemmy,
" anything you ask me sir, shall be done ; I know that I am
now a made man." " Well then," said the priest, " all I ask is,
Jemmy, that you don't go back too cheap. Get all you can."
" Oh ! sir ! " said Jemmy, " leave that to me," and he went
home. He was not long at home when the parson, as ex-
pected, came to pay him a visit. After the usual salutations and
enquiries, " Jemmy," said the parson, " I have been thinking
of late a great deal about you and your family ; you are not
as well provided as I would wish, and I have a situation for
you, Jemmy, where you will receive so much a week." Jemmy
thought that was not bad, and inwardly thanked Father
Murphy, but he remembered his injunction not to go back
cheap, and he replied : " I am thankful indeed, sir, but," said
he, "you know I have a large family, and it takes a great
deal to support them." " Oh ! never mind that," said the
parson, " I have a situation for your oldest daughter also,
where she will receive handsome wages." " Better and better,"
said Jemmy to himself, but he was resolved not to go back
cheap. " But, your Reverence," he replied, " the poor girl has
no clothes fit for such a place, and I am ashamed to send
her as she is." " Oh ! that will be settled," says the parson,
" here is an order which you can take to such a shop, and she
can get all the clothes she wants." The shoneens, by their
contact with the native population, have imbibed much of
their shrewdness, and Jemmy feeling that he was master of
the situation turned it to good account. He found out
innumerable wants.
Under one plea or another he contrived to go as deep as he
could into the parson's purse, but finally had to stop when he
could think of nothing more. After all this was arranged,
the parson quietly remarked : "Now Jemmy," said he, "lam
sorry to hear that you are weak in the faith." " Oh ! well, sir ! "
The Irish Priest. 563
said Jemmy, " when a man is weak in the stomach, he cannot
be strong in anything else." But «0«/,sir," he says, " you can
trust me" Next day, as he had promised, he called on
Father Murphy, to report progress, and return his warmest
thanks. Father Murphy, however was'nt done. "Now,
Jemmy, " he said, " since you have fared so well yourself,
wouldn't it be a kind act to put your brother-in-law on the
way of making a penny also ? " Oh ! by the powers ! " says
Jemmy, "I am afraid that would be going too far." "Oh!
never mind ! " says the priest, " don't you think he has a
better right to the money that's going, than those that have
been getting it ? " And it was not hard to induce him to help
his brother-in-law, and he too took good care to make a dive into
the parson's purse, and not to go back either cheap, and so the
secret was whispered round among the shoneens of the parish,
and all tried their hand at it, and the parson had to buy back
his own people, and what was worse, it required a heavy
outlay to preserve the investment. It never would have
answered, if he who was to " convert" all Ireland, had not been
able to preserve his own people. The result was, that the
bottom was knocked out of his coffers ; there was no more
money to purchase poor Papists, and there was an end at that
time to " conversions" in that parish. Indeed, as I am but
relating what actually occurred, it may be no harm to add
that the parson was so pressed by the shoneens, that he
went deeply into debt, and was obliged to leave the country
to avoid being imprisoned. Shame compelled him to leave
nothing undone to prevent his own people becoming Catholics,
instead of inducing the Catholics to leave the Church in
masses as he had promised, and the money that he would have
obtained in abundance from abroad to convert " Papists," was
not to be had to retain his own, even if he had been willing
to proclaim his precarious hold on them.
But the priest has not only to struggle against the enemies
of the people ; he is often forced to struggle with themselves.
For they have not only inherited all the common ills of
fallen nature, but in them, as in others, corrupt nature ac-
quires traits and developments peculiarly their own. From
these, that is from themselves, the priest is frequently called
to save them, and to accomplish this it often becomes necessary
to apply no gentle hand. But, although the warmth of their
nature may push them into excesses, they always know that
the priest's voice and hand are those of a father who loves
them, and when the fire of passion has passed, they thank him
that in endeavouring to restrain and protect, he did not fear to
displease. The Irish priest thus holds and exercises much
564 'fht Irish Priest.
power, which confessedly is not inherent in his office. It grew
out of his peculiar position, and that of his people, and he
holds it by a title which republicans, at least, should not dis-
pute ; he holds it through the free consent of those over whom
it is exercised. His continuing to hold it, and his being
supported in exercising it, is the best proof that he has been
faithful to the trust under which it was granted.
Outside of the ranks of the clergy, there have been many
fearless and true men, who labored for the people with zeal, or
failed without a blemish. There was above all, the great
O'Connell, who was a tower of strength and impregnable in his
honesty. He found the people in the dust, and though he did
not accomplish all he desired, he removed the brand that was
stamped on their foreheads, and he taught them to look their
enemies boldly in the face. Many others, if not equal yet
true men, might be named. But I think I can say, without
fear of contradiction, that as a class the clergy was the only
body that, in supplying many good men, did not also supply
a whole brood of betrayers. Statesmen betrayed them, riding
into office on their shoulders, and then selling them for money or
place. Hot-spoken orators betrayed them, and slipping away
in the hour of the peril they had provoked, or making terms
with the enemy, left the masses to bear its brunt. Many, from
their own midst, with warm and honest hearts, but not with
equal discretion, arousing in them an enthusiasm prompted
more by their wrongs than warranted by their power or
suggested by their religion, and evoking a spirit that could
neither be guided nor repressed, when its dictates became un-
lawful, or hopeless, only plunged themselves and the whole
people into deeper ruin. The blackthorn or the pike may
" never miss fire," but their " fire" is not always well or lawfully
directed, and they will not carry as far as rifled guns, which,
in their execution, know nothing of right or wrong, and are
not in the least affected by the most beautiful oratorical or
poetical effusions.
The priest no more than others has been always able to
obtain redress. But he neither shrunk from his post in the
hour of danger, nor did his ranks supply the informers or
the traitors who made other men atone for the acts they
themselves had dene. His hopes were not always realized,
but things were seldom made worse by him, and I could
quote numberless instances in which nothing was gained and
much lost by disregarding his moderate counsels. But
whether foiled or successful, no one can point to "spoils"
which he expected for himself or his order, or to any other
advantages that he obtained or was aiming at obtaining,
The Irish Priest. 56$
except what he might derive from the universal improve-
ment in the condition of his people. No treasury was placed
in his hands which the most malicious could say he was
turning to his own account ; no contracts were made by him
from which he could reserve fat pickings. His whole train-
ing and the spirit of his calling will, it is true, make him
err, if err he will, on the side of moderation, but there is
little danger of any man identified with the people, going
too far in this direction in Ireland.
In all righteous struggles of the past, in which it was
proper for them to take a part, the priests were foremost
in the boldest movements, whenever there was a chance of
success. This was so true, that they were always marked
men in the estimation of the enemies of the people, and
were on that account always excepted from any leniency
shown to the vanquished. Though religious hatred no
doubt was the leading motive of this, the part acted by
the priest was the one alleged, and we cannot deny that
the priest's conduct made it plausible. Had it been a good
one, it would in many cases have fully justified their
course.
Thus Terence O'Brien, the heroic Bishop of Emly, con-
tinued at the siege of Limerick to exhort the people with
effect to the defence of their altars and firesides, though
Ireton who was besieging the city offered him ^40,000 in
money, and permission to betake himself to any part of
the world he pleased, if he would only cease. But he
spurned the offer and paid the penalty of his fortitude by
being hanged, quartered, and embowelled, and having his
head stuck up on Thomond bridge. Even while going to
the scaffold he continued the bold advocate of the people,
reproaching the monster with his cruelties, and summoning
him to appear for them before the judgment-seat of God,
which he did in a few days, like another Antiochus ac-
knowledging his crimes, but not with a repentance that would
have obtained pardon from God.
In a similar manner, Boetius Egan, Bishop of Ross, taken
prisoner by the Cromwellians, when offered his life if he
would induce the Irish troops that held the Castle of Clon-
drohid to surrender, being led before its walls for this pur-
pose, as soon as he came within hearing, addressed' the
besieged in Irish, and exhorted them to hold out, telling
them that the English would soon be obliged to raise the
siege. The English officer, learning the character of his
address, was so exasperated that he put him to death at
once, amidst the most cruel torrrrents, which was, of course,
VOL. v.
566 The Irish Priest.
what he had expected. It would be endless, were I to
quote similar individual examples of heroism. I have known
several instances myself, when priests placed their lives and
their liberties in jeopardy to protect the people. The spirit
of the whole body was illustrated at the Confederation of
Kilkenny, whose history is well calculated to excite feelings
of pride, and at the same time of sadness — of pride for the
noble stand taken by the bishops and the mass of the clergy
and the flower of the people of Ireland, the former standing up
for the boldest measures in which they were afterwards
strengthened by the Pope's Nuncio, who came to assist in
their deliberations — of sadness for the miserable termination
in which bright hopes were blasted, but not through want of
fidelity or courage or boldness on the part of the bishops
and priests — sad particularly, because never before since the
introduction of foreign domination did such an array come
together ; never again, I fear, can such elements of success
be united, while every thing that caused them to fail exists
now and with tenfold power, and to that much more is now
added, and all in every probability will only acquire more
power with time.
There are, as there always must be in such matters, even
amongst the best, different shades of opinion amongst
bishops and priests in Ireland, regarding the measures best
calculated to promote the welfare of the people. I happen
to have had special opportunities of knowing the real sen-
timents of the chief representative men of each section,
and I do not hesitate to say that in sincere love for the
people, in firm determination to spurn any sordid gain that
could be obtained in proving false to them, in a readiness
to make any sacrifice that would promote the welfare of
their country, those who lead on all sides are in nothing
below the standard of their most heroic predecessors, and
are not surpassed by any body of men on earth.
Of the merits of the views that they maintain respectively,
most of us at this distance from the scene, if we have but
a little modesty, will acknowledge ourselves scarcely com-
petent to judge, and will be satisfied with admiring and
taking a just pride in the earnestness and sublime qualities
by which the prominent men in each section are distin-
guished.
Neither now nor ever have the clergy of Ireland failed
or faltered, in truth, or courage, or boldness, when any thing
that it was proper for them to do was demanded by their
country. But they will neither lead nor be driven in any
career, the end of which is not righteous, or the means not
The Irish Priest. . 5 67
consistent with the principles of faith and justice, and when
risks are run, this implies fair hopes of success. They kept
the people from joining Luther, or walking in the path
traced out for them by Henry the Eighth and Elizabeth,
because these rebelled against God. They will not en-
courage that same people to become disciples of Voltaire
even for the purpose of spiting Luther or the followers
of Henry and Elizabeth. They wrestled with the enemies
of the people, sometimes with the people themselves to
save them from corruption or oppression. They will not
encourage or be silent, no matter from what quarter, or
under what plea corruption is approaching, and they will
not hesitate to struggle even with the people themselves when
they are being drawn into what is unlawful, or are heedlessly
rushing into ruin, though the basis of their complaints be
well founded.
It is, however, in the unostentatious sphere of ordinary
duty above all, that we must look for the display of the
activity of the Irish priest, and the source of the feelings
with which he is regarded. His calling and his training are
both calculated to win esteem. The priest is the product of
the virtue, and especially of the charity and the chastity
of the people. The piety of the people has surrounded the
sanctuary with a halo that attracted his youthful heart. His
inherited chastity lulled every opposition to the call. Cha-
rity burning in a chaste soul urged him to follow it. This
is the true history of those vocations that abound in Ireland,
as is apparent to every one who has had an opportunity
of studying the feelings of the youthful candidate for the
ministry, before calculations of any kind have entered his
soul.
Attracted to the sanctuary in this manner, the young
aspirant is prepared with great care for the ministry. The
standard of knowledge, which all are required to attain is
as high, if not higher, than in any other country or com-
munion with which I am acquainted, and I have had some
opportunities of information on this subject. But what is
better than knowledge the Irish priest brings to the sanc-
tuary a heart true as steel that stands every shock. The
spirit that led him to it impresses itself on his whole career.
I have heard more than one stranger who became acquainted
with them, say that in sound knowledge of all that is
necessary or proper for their state, and in fidelity to duty,
the Irish clergy are not surpassed by any body of men on
earth.
Many of them adorned the most polished circles of
568 The Irish Priest.
society, others exhibited marks of the humbler classes
from whom they sprang, for whom and in the midst of
whom they lived and laboured. But under frieze coats and
over buttered boots they carried enlightened minds and true
hearts that made them the intelligent, the skilful, the un-
purchased, and unpurchasable guides and friends of the
people, and enabled them to do a work that the best and
the greatest might be proud of accomplishing. Such are
the men to whom is committed the care of the religious
welfare of the Irish people. To this they are devoted with
their whole minds and hearts.
Religion is necessary for men's happiness, even in this
world. Even here it is almost a remedy for every misfortune.
Without religion, the balance that constitutes happiness
cannot exist. - With it, other things may cause a strain —
there cannot be a complete toppling over. • All men require
it, the victim of misfortune requires it in a special manner,
In its presence, misfortunes are comparatively insignificant,
nay, they become the royal road to true happiness, whilst
without its consolations and direction, all else is unable to
satisfy the soul, and sufferings are but a foretaste of hell.
The priest, the faithful priest, is the instrument by which
this power is cherished and strengthened. Its consolations
are heard from his lips, its institutions are applied by his
hands as the sufferer needs them. They lift up the soul
bowed down by sorrow. When affliction weighs heaviest,
they inspire courage and resignation. They point to God's
wise and beneficent will as the great ruling principle in all
things which makes heaven the goal even of suffering when
sustained with resignation.
How beautiful it is to witness the result of these lessons ;
how touching the spirit of resignation so often displayed
by Irish Catholics in the midst of the heaviest affliction,
kissing the rod with which a Father chastens and leads to
a higher place in heaven.
"God's will be done! God's will be praised!" is the ex-
clamation you so often, nay, so generally hear from the
poor peasant, even when affliction lays its heaviest hand
upon him. The resignation, contentment, and joy with which
these words are pronounced, might make him an object of
envy to the votaries of pleasure.
Oh, if those who point to faults amongst our people, which
could not withou: a miracle fail to result under the tyranny
and oppression to which they have been so long subjected,
would but enter into their dwellings and see the many un-
ostentatious virtues that adorn the souls of the great
The Irish Priest. 569
number ; if they but became familiar with their purity, their
charity, with their patience and resignation, and other virtues
practised faithfully by so many, they would cease to .be
scandalized at the few noisy outbursts of passion which
force themselves on public attention, and are taken as the
true characteristic of the race. They would find there a
mine that would command their admiration, and make them
look for the cause that can produce so much virtue. Every-
thing that inspires these dispositions, is brought home most
powerfully by the words and the ministry of the priest who
holds before the eyes the sufferings of the Incarnate God.
Hence, in their sorrows and afflictions they pour out to
him their whole souls, and they find comfort. Nay, scarcely
is his well-known figure seen at a distance, when sorrow
seems to depart or to throw off its gloom. Indeed, while
he is yet at the end of the lane, the announcement that he
is coming, even before he is seen, brings with it resignation
and gladness, for it recalls all the holy feelings which
religion would inculcate. Thus the sun yet below the
horizon shoots out its rays and the heavy clouds lose their
murky hues even before the orb of day has itself arisen.
He enters into the comfortless cabin. Though gushing tears
give vent to grief, as these pour out consolation enters, and
the Christian rises above the man.
Yes ! the priest is the Irishman's great source of con-
solation in every shape of affliction. In poverty he lays
open to him his wants, and the priest's hand and tongue
are ever ready to find any remedy that can be procured. In
persecution or oppression, he flies to him for succour, and
if bold or persevering advocacy can find "redress, it will be
obtained. He is sick, and even relatives and friends
abandon him, the priest alone, undeterred by the pestilential
atmosphere, will enter his cabin and remain with him as
long as he can render him a service in assuaging his pains
or lifting up his soul to God.
In a hundred other things, the intervention of the priest is
sought and its beneficial influence felt. Do differences arise
between neighbours, the priest is the umpire, of whose impar-
tiality and justice no doubt ever crosses the mind. If division
arise in the family, the priest is sought as one who will pro-
nounce a sentence consistent with justice and consideration,
assuaging while he condemns, and pouring oil and endeavour-
ing to heal the wounds he is compelled to open. Does a
mother tremble for the virtue of a daughter, charmed by the
serpent whose glittering spots have attracted her fancy, while
she cannot believe in the poison hidden under the tongue ? It
570
The Irish Priest.
is to the priest that she recurs, and his venerated words dispel
the delusion and save *her beloved child from the wiles of the
charmer.
In all their perplexities there is no one else from whom they
can ask counsel or aid with so much confidence. His mature
judgment, his knowledge, his experience will supply him
with an answer ; his influence, his acquaintance, and his skill
are at their service to carry it into execution. He serves them
at home, he feels an interest in them even when they are gone,
and he enquires for them, and all see the unfeigned pleasure or
pain by which he is animated when he hears how they fare
even beyond the broad Atlantic. I have known a lady
moving in the highest circles of fashion in one of our large
cities, who was brought into the Church by the affectionate
and touching letters of an Irish priest to a poor girl against
whom it had been falsely reported at home that she had fallen
away from the faith. The poor girl being unable to read
asked her mistress to read the letter for her, and the fervor of
faith and charity breathing in it reached the heart of the lady,
and thus opened it to truth, and brought her into the Church.
The Irishman feels that in his priest, and we might add, in
him alone, he has that noblest gift of Heaven, a friend that
is wise and true, that will rejoice in his joys, sympathise in his
sorrows, give aid or counsel in his difficulties, and where
necessary chide without fear with a mother's tenderness and
a father's power. He feels every noble principle of his soul
strengthened, he finds himself buoyed up by the words, by
the ministry of his own " Sogarth Aroon." Nay, in beholding
him he feels in himself a dignity which makes him prize
himself, and deservedly more than those who lord it over him,
though he is but poor and they possessed of all kind of wealth.
For, he feels that he is member of a Church established by
God's wisdom, upheld by His power, and preserved to this
day in spite of all the powers of earth and hell. He feels
himself member of that Church which is spread all over the
world, which has announced the name of Christ to every
nation that knows Him ; a Church that covered the earth
with saints and sages, that could go into the Catacombs, or
seat itself on the throne of the Caesars, and everywhere give
true and therefore solid dignity to man. He feels that the
priest is the link through which he is connected with that
divine institution, and he thinks he beholds in him — and who
will say that he is mistaken in viewing in him a standing
monument of its stability, its unchangeableness, and of the
power with which it announces truth and justice to the great,
while it imparts dignity to the low, and consolation to the
The Irish Priest. 57 1
afflicted — in looking on him, in a word, as a living embodiment
of all that the soul can value, of what forms the basis of his
hopes for time and eternity.
With this before him, he raises himself up to a high elevation
from which he looks down with pity on the lordlings who hold
indeed their broad acres, but whose souls are fed on crusts
flung to them by a monarch's passions, or supplied by a
fanatic's whim. These are the feelings that make his heart
warm, that make his eye glisten, when he pronounces, as only
he can pronounce, the words " Sogarth Aroon."
Oh ! I would say to all those in whom there yet survives a
spark of sympathy for the poor Irish peasant, do not deprive
him if you could, do not even try to deprive him of this last
ray of comfort, which has alone survived the wreck of all else.
Do not deprive him of the consolations of his religion, or what
would have this result sooner or later, do not try to deaden in
him his confidence in his priest.
The road which you point out as leading to happiness is
long and doubtful at the best, that of which you would deprive
him is his last consolation on earth, but yet such that it is
worth more than all the rest. With this angels hover over his
abode of misery, as they did over the stable in which was
born the Incarnate God. If this be taken away, the cup of
his misery is filled. Yes ! much as Ireland has suffered, her
misery would be complete only on the day when the priest,
deservedly or undeservedly, lost the confidence of the people.
If he lose it through his own fault, woe to him ! if by the
malignity of others, the uncheered misery of a nation will bring
down curses on their heads.
Men do not gather, they do not even try to gather, grapes
of thprns, or figs of brambles. Had not the experience of
generations justified it, did not the experience of this day
confirm it, this confidence would not have been placed, or
would not be continued in the priest. He could not be untrue
even with the most ordinary good dispositions. The heredi-
tary spirit of his order not only supports him, it carries him
on with power in the path of duty. " Noblesse oblige" as the
Frenchman says. It is only in the depth of baseness that this
influence could be resisted. He is of the people ; he lives
with them ; he is open to their scrutinizing gaze by day and
by night, and in all ways. Their unshaken confidence is the
best proof that he is now, as he ever was, the earnest, the
devoted, the unpurchased and unpurchasable friend of the
people. Hence their esteem and their love.
The true cause of the Irish priest's influence is thus to-
be found in the devotedness to the people which has ever
572 The Irish Priest.
characterized his order, and in his being animated by the spirit
of God. He watched'over them with untiring care, he made
himself well acquainted with their wants, their dangers, and
their faults. He spared no pains to provide a remedy for all.
He did this with special devotedness for the poor and the
miserable, and even the intractable. He was ready to labour
for them, to suffer for them, if necessary to die for them. He
was ready to struggle with their enemies and their deceivers.
He was ready to struggle with themselves, to displease them
even for the moment when their real welfare required it. He
knew that it was God whom he was bound to please, not
men ; no ! not even those for whom he laboured. It was to
Christ's model he was bound to form himself and them, not on
a standard raised up at the hour. What his best exertions
could accomplish, not what they demanded, was the measure
of his labour. This devotedness was the source of his success.
Let the priests of our day endeavour to acquire all the
graces that can adorn the priesthood, wherever they may.
These can be nowhere better placed than in the sanctuary.
Some may be learned as well, or better, in other lands. The
whole-souled devotedness that studies with care the true
wants of the people, and spares no sacrifices to provide for
them, has many noble models everywhere, but as a class you
will scarcely find a body that has exhibited it with more
power than the Irish priesthood. Yet this is what is most
important. Without this other things would be but tinsel.
We may admire the snowy canvass, the tiny masts, the beau-
tiful proportions of the bark that " walks the waters as a thing
of life." When we commit ourselves to the deep, and are
about to struggle with its dangers, we seek first of all the ship
whose ribs and sides have been hewn out of the sturdy oak.
We care not that while growing in the forest its bark was
rough and its boughs crooked, nor are we repelled by many
hard knots we see yet embedded in its fibre. In the hour of
danger we seek safety under its strong heart and firm tissue,
and think little of the rest.
May the people ever continue to value the priest. Let not
sneers effect what bribery and the sword were unable to ac-
complish. Let their affection be greater when they see him
anxious above all to do the work of God, ready to displease
as he is ready to labor, and to suffer whenever their real wel-
fare requires it. Let them pray that God shall not curse them
with dumb dogs, oi with dogs that will bark only as they are
bid by those they are bound to guard. It is hard to say
whether they who would be silent, or speak only what will
tickle the ear and please for the moment, or those who openly
John Knox and the First-fruits of Presbyterianism. 573
betray them, would be a greater misfortune. Each would
deliver them a sure prey to the wolf. Let priests and people
be ever ready to sacrifice every thing for the faith and the
performance of the duties which faith enjoins. Let them
make sure above all to transmit this in its brightness and its
fullness to those who come after them, so that whatever else
they gain or fail to gain, they shall not fail to transmit the
sacred deposit of the faith and love for its requirements.
This is the lesson which this day inculcates. From their
graves unhonored perhaps by men, but on which angels look
with complacency, our martyred forefathers call on us to be
true in the battle in which they sacrificed all to preserve the
great treasure of faith. They were true and thus victorious,
for they succeeded in preserving what they prized most. To
accomplish this all must be ready to labour and to make
sacrifices. The spirit of sacrifice is the essential condition
and the true pledge of success. This above all is what is
inculcated by the lives and the labors, the works and the
lessons of " Sogarth Aroon."
I
JOHN KNOX AND THE FIRST-FRUITS OF
PRESBYTERIANISM.
(Continued from page 49 1).
T was on the 2Qth of June, 1559, that John Knox, at the
head of an armed brigade, entered the city of Edinburgh. A
few days sufficed to overturn to the very foundations Our
Lady's Kirk in the fields, the monastery of the grey friars, and
the other monuments of ancient piety which adorned the
capital and its environs.
The treasonable practices, however, of the puritan "Congrega-
tion," and the many deeds of violence and plunder perpetrated
by the lawless mob gradually awakened the alarm of the citizens.
Hence the ranks of the insurgents began to grow thinner every
day, whilst the strength of the royalists as rapidly increased;
and when at length the troops of the regent approached the
city, " the saints," as Knox pitifully records, " quailed before
the congregation of satan," and their leaders consulted for
safety by a feigned submission, or by timely flight.
We will not dwell on the varying vicissitudes which marked
the internecine struggle during the following months. The
army of the kirk, composed of men "without God or honesty,"
as a cotemporary describes them, was unable to keep the fie!4
574 John Knox and the
against the troops of the regent, but then its leaders had their
secret conclaves and their negotiations with the queen of England
to console and encourage them. It was not without some
difficulty, however, that Queen Elizabeth consented to become
their patron.
Knox, during his stay at Geneva, and whilst imbibing at the
parent source the irreligious tenets of Galvanism, had written
a treatise to prove that government by woman was unlawful
and contrary to the Word of God. This work was levelled
against Queen Mary, who then ruled in England ; but the
principles which were laid down in it embraced a wider range.
Elizabeth had not forgotten them, and she accordingly refused
to give any aid to the Scottish covenanters till they should
repudiate such principles. This was a bitter humiliation for
the father of Presbyterianism, but as his interests now required
it, he wrote a submissive letter to her Majesty, deprecating her
wrath and praying forgiveness for his offence. The principles
he had laid down, he declared, could not hold for her, for she
was an exception to every rule ; he added, that her whole life
was a miracle, and clearly proved that she was chosen specially
by God to discharge the office of queen.
The road being thus cleared for Knox and his associates,
negociations were actively carried on to procure the speedy
invasion of Scotland by the English army. It was even
suggested by the Presbyterian conspirators, that if it did not
suit the English interests to openly declare war ; a thousand
men might be dispatched across the borders, and then be
stigmatized as rebels by the crown of England. On receiving
this proposal, even the unscrupulous Cecil was amazed j1
nevertheless, Knox and his Scottish rebels gained their intent.
They were compelled however to drink the cup of humilia-
tion to the very dregs. Cecil required from them a formal
petition to the queen for aid ; he even went so far as to draw
up that petition, couched in the most humiliating terms, and
to forward it to them for signature. They complied, and
in deference to their humble prayer Elizabeth gave orders
for the English army to cross the Tweed whilst a squadron
of her fleet entered the Forth.
Success now smiled on Knox and his partizans ; the death
of the Queen Regent of Scotland on loth June, 1560, re-
moved the only obstacle to their triumph, and placed the
whole power of the kingdom in their hands.
It was in the name of religious liberty that the standard of
revolt had been unfurled ; but now that the Presbyterian
^'Surely I like not Knox's audacity." — "Sadler's Letters," i. 535, and see
" Lingards History of England," vi. 20.
First-fru its of Presbyterian ism. 575
" Congregation" had gained the reins of power we seek in
vain for the faintest shadow of the principles of this vaunted
liberty.
On the 23rd of August, 1560, it was enacted by the
Presbyterian Parliament that " all who celebrated Mass,
or were present thereat, should be punished — for the
first offence, with confiscation of goods ; for the second,
with banishment ; and for the third, with death." We
may learn from the pages of the latest Scottish historian,
with what rigour the followers of Knox now sought to
exterminate the Catholics. "About this time (he writes)
proceedings were taken under the statute of 1560, against
a number of persons in the west of Scotland, including
John Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, for celebrating
Mass ; and it is curious to find that the wilds of Ayrshire, which
a century later were the haunts of persecuted Presbyterians,
were now the resort of persecuted Catholics, who on the bleak
moorlands, or beneath the shelter of some friendly rock,
worshipped in secret according to the faith of their fathers.
Some of the more zealous reformers, impatient of the pro-
verbial tardiness of the law, did not hesitate to attack and dis-
perse the "Idolaters" when they found them thus engaged. The
Queen as well from sympathy with her Catholic subjects as
from her desire to maintain the public peace, remonstrated
with Knox respecting these lawless proceedings. But he not
only defended but applauded them. He asserted that private
individuals might even slay with their own hands idolaters
and enemies of the true religion."1 This was indeed religious
liberty with a vengeance !
A few months later another act was passed, at the request
of the kirk, "for demolishing all abbeys of monks and friars,
and for suppressing whatsomever other monuments of idolatry
were remaining in the realm ;"2 and, as Keith remarks, the
carrying out of the act was entrusted to Moray, Arran, and
others,3 whose names alone were a sufficient guarantee that
the work would be done efficiently.
"Nearly two years," writes Mr. Hosack, "had elapsed since
war had been declared against the monastic houses in the
central counties of Scotland ; but in the other districts of the
country — north, south, and west — numbers of religious estab-
1 " Mary Queen of Scots and her Accusers," by John Hosack, 1869, page 96.
3 "Keith," vol. iii. page 37.
3 See " Spottiswoode," i. 372, who also adds : — "The registers of the church
and bibliotheques were cast into the fire. In a word, all was ruined ; and what
had escaped in the time of the first tumult did now undergo the common calamity,
which was so much the worse that the violences committed at this time were
coloured with the warrant of public authority. "
576 John Knox and the
lishments still remained — a standing reproach to all true
reformers. It was nofr resolved that this reproach should
exist no longer ; and an act — it was so called by its authors —
was passed for the total destruction of those remaining monu-
ments of superstition. This barbarous edict was obeyed to
the letter. All that was most venerable in architecture and
valuable in art at that time in Scotland was ruthlessly assailed.
The libraries and ancient records contained in the religious
houses, nay, even the tombs of the .dead, did not escape the
general wreck. There is nothing in all history to be compared
with this exhibition of fanatical fury. No invading army ever
committed such merciless havoc in the territory of an enemy.
No people ever before or since so deliberately destroyed, with
all the formalities of law, the monuments of art and industry
bequeathed to them by their own ancestors."1
Yet all was not smooth for Knox and his more immediate
friends. He had hoped to attain the highest posts of honour
in the triumphant congregation, but he was soon doomed to
experience bitter disappointment. It was deemed necessary
that some ministers of the kirk should bear the name of bishops,
and hence the so-called Tulchan Bishops* were created — without
ordination or consecration, but simply by the will of the con-
gregation, and by the act of the Scottish Parliament. The
friends of Knox urged his claims to be honoured with this
dignity, yet he was passed over, and John Douglas was the
first raised to the Tulchan Hierarchy. Knox protested in
vain against this "unworthy" appointment, and though he was
preacher on the occasion he refused to take further part in
the ceremony.3
It was also expected that the monastic lands, and the other
spoils of the ancient church would now enrich the ministers
of the new gospel ; but here again disappointment awaited
them. Knox presented to the convention a prayer, that the
patrimony of the church should be set aside for himself and
his brother preachers ; but his petition was treated with scorn,
and declared to be the product of the excited imagination of
the fervent minister. Nothing could exceed the chagrin of
Knox at the disappointment, and till his death he never
1 "Hosack." loc. cit. page 60.
2 They were called Tulchan. bishops as being merely an appearance, without
reality, i. e. . sham bishops. The name was derived from the practice prevalent
in Scotland, when the calf was removed from the cow, of stuffing a calf's skin ith
straw, and placing it neai the mother cow, to induce her to let down her milk —
which figure was called a Tulchan. Even so the new nominal bishops were created
solely for the purpose of securing some votes in Parliament, and of enjoying the
remnant of the revenues of the ancient sees. Gordon's " Scotichroiiicon," page 314.
* " Bannatyne Mem." page 331.
First-fruits of Presbyterianism. 577
ceased to taunt the Lords of the Congregation with their ill-
gotten riches, and to bewail the sad lot of the despised and
plundered preachers. One passage from Knox's lament will
give some idea of the bitterness of his disappointment at
finding the spoils of the ancient church withdrawn by other
plunderers from his grasp: — "The chief great man," he says,
" that professed Christ, and refused to subscribe the Book of
Discipline was Lord Erskine, and no wonder. For, besides
that he had a very evil woman as his wife, if the poor, the
schools, and the ministry of the church had their own, his
kitchen would lack two parts and more of tnat which he now
possesses. Assuredly some of us have wondered how men
that profess godliness could, of so long continuance, hear the
threatenings of God against thieves, and against their houses,
and knowing themselves guilty in such things as were
openly rebuked, that they never had remorse of conscience,
neither yet intended to restore anything of that which they
had long stolen and reft ; there were none within the realm
more unmerciful to the poor ministers than those who had
the greatest rents of the churches."
One great event, however, now engrossed the attention alike
of Scotland and of England, and disturbed, for a while, the
Lords of the Congregation in the enjoyment of their sacrile-
gious plunder. On the iQth of August, 1561, Mary Stuart
having escaped the English fleet that was sent to intercept
her, landed unobserved in the harbour of Leith. The nation
hailed her return with joy, and even the most ardent Puritans,
when brought into the presence of Mary Stuart, were charmed
into loyal toleration by her mildness and noble deportment.
Campbell, of Kingsancleugh, one of their great leaders, thus
wrote from Holyrood to Lord Ochiltree: — "I fear that after
the holy water of the court be sprinkled on you, ye shall
become as temperate as the rest. I have been here five days,
and at the first I heard every man say, let us hang the priest ;
but after they had been twice or thrice at the Abbey, all
that fervency was past. I think there is some enchantment
whereby men are bewitched."1
One of the first facts connected with the Queen's return
discloses to us the dismal character of the puritan observances
introduced by Knox and his associates. The old traditionary
pastimes, such as Robin Hood and Qtiecji of May, in which the
people usually sought a relaxation from labour, were inter-
dicted by Act of Parliament under the severest penalties. In
Edinburgh, however, a poor shoemaker named James Kellone
*" Froude's History," vii. p. 366..
578 John Knox and the
had engaged in the old play of Robin, in defiance of the law ;
he was arrested by the Provost, and sentenced to be hanged
for this offence. Knox and his fellow-preachers were urged
to obtain his pardon, but their only reply was that " they
would do nothing but have him hanged." When the day of
execution arrived, some of the citizens flew to arms, hurled
down the gibbet, burst into the prison, liberated not only the
condemned shoemaker, but also all the other prisoners who were
confined there ; and carried off the Provost and other officials
as hostages, the better to ensure their own immunity from
punishment. They now took advantage of the Queen's arri-
val to ask full pardon for their offence ; they presented them-
selves before her as she proceeded from Leith to Holy rood,
and Mary graciously acceded to their prayer.1
No sooner had the Queen arrived at Holyrood than the
"Congregation" deemed it expedient to make a display of
their devoted loyalty, and hence their minstrels and musicians
hastened in goodly array to serenade her Majesty. "These
solemn serenaders (writes Knox in his history) were a com-
pany of most honest men, who, with instruments of music and
musicians, gave their salutations at her chamber window."
However, a French gentleman, M. Brantome, who was one of
the Queen's attendants, gives a somewhat different version of
this vain display of Presbyterian loyalty. " There came," he
says, "under her Majesty's window, five or six hundred raga-
muffins of that town, who gave her a concert of the vilest
fiddles and little rebecs, which are as bad as they can be in
that country, and accompanied them with singing psalms, but
so wretchedly out of tune and concord, that nothing could be
worse. Ah ! what a melody it was ; what a lullaby for the
night !" And Miss Strickland adds that they " disturbed the
Queen's repose with such horrible dissonance, as if they had
been inspired by the prince of darkness, with the design
of disgusting her with the music of the Reformed Church of
Scotland."2
Soon, however, the unfortunate Queen of Scots was to ex-
perience vexations of another kind from Knox and his
associates. She had claimed for herself the privilege of prac-
tising religion according to the dictates of her conscience,
and ordered mass to be celebrated in the royal chapel of
Holyrood. Knox's adherents, however, would fain extend
their intolerance to the royal palace ; they forced their way
into the courtyard, wildly clamouring for the death of whoso -
ever would dare to offer up the holy sacrifice, and the cele-
1 Miss Strickland's "Lives, &c.," iii. page 231.
3 Miss Strickland's "History," loc. cit.
First-fruits of Presbyterianism. 579
brant with difficulty saved himself by flight. On another
occasion, when the Queen happened to be absent, Knox's
followers attacked the chapel royal, and proceeded to plunder
it of all its rich ornaments, till an armed force came to dis-
perse the rioters. Knox was not even satisfied with all this, but
on every occasion, in his writings and in the pulpit, assailed
the Queen with the most unbridled impudence, and imputed to
her idolatry and the worst of crimes. Even Hume in his
History rebukes this effrontery of the Presbyterian Reformer:
" He triumphed (he thus writes) in the contumelious usage of
the Queen, and her religion ; he let slip no opportunity which
presented itself; and when occasion failed, his ingenuity
created circumstances in which his malignity and malice could
revel luxuriously." And here again we may be permitted to
quote the words of Mr. Hosack. " The Reformers appeared to
think that the surest way of converting their Sovereign was by
taking every possible means of insulting her religion. Shortly
after her arrival she was entertained at a banquet in Edinburgh
Castle ; and after the repast a child descended from the roof
and presented her with a Bible. As the walls of the cham-
ber were decorated with scenes from the Old Testament,
representing the punishment of idolaters, the queen could
be at no loss to understand the allusion to her religion. It
was intended, on the same occasion, to have burnt a priest
in effigy ; but this part of the pageant was omitted through
the influence of the Earl of Huntly. Knox and the
preachers continued meanwhile to threaten the nation with the
vengeance of heaven if idolatry was suffered to remain.
We learn further from Randolph, that the question began
to be mooted, whether the princess, being an idolater, was
to be obeyed even in civil matters. The English envoy,
who was by this time pretty well acquainted with the cha-
racter of the Scots, adds the following significant reflection : —
" / think marvellously of the wisdom of God, that gave this
unruly, inconstant, and cumbersome people no more substance
nor power than they have, for then would they rtm wild' "
(Hosack, page 78.)
Among the courtiers there was one specially devoted to the
Queen, whom neither bribe nor menace could detach from
loyalty to her service, and whose " hatred for the Reformers
rivalled her own in its intensity."1 This was an Italian named
David Rizzio.2 He had come to Scotland in the suite of De
Moret, ambassador of Savoy, and though a young man (he
1 Froude, viii. page 117.
3 " Riccio was an able and accomplished man, thoroughly versed in the troubled
politics of the day." Hosack, page 121.
580 John Knox and the
was only thirty years of age), yet by his ability and devoted-
ness to the interests of. the crown, he soon earned the confi-
dence of the Queen, and was raised to the highest posts of
honour in the court. These were no merits, however, in the
eyes of the Presbyterian "Congregation," who had plotted
alike for the overthrow of religion and of the throne. A plot
was formed for the murder of the faithful counsellor, and on
the Qth of March, 1 566, David Rizzio, in the very presence of the
Queen, fell beneath the daggers of the assassins, whilst the
outraged Sovereign exclaimed, " Ah, poor David, my good
and faithful servant, may the Lord have mercy on your soul."
John Knox, the first Father of Presbyterianism, was an
accomplice in this murder ; and in the list of those who were
engaged in the horrid crime, forwarded to the Secretary of
State in London by the English ambassador at the Scottish
court, are registered the names of John Knox and John Craig,
preachers)*
Darnley, the weak husband of Mary, had taken a leading
part with the conspirators in this murder of Rizzio. This
assassination, however, was only the beginning of their deep-
laid plan. They had further resolved to seize upon the
Queen, and to cause her to be deposed from the throne in the
approaching Parliament. Darnley betrayed these secrets of
his confederates, and by aiding in the memorable flight from
Holyrood, frustrated their foul design. Before twelve months
had passed, their vengeance was wreaked on Darnley. Gun-
powder was introduced into the cellars of the house where
Darnley slept. On the night of February Qth, 1567, a fearful
explosion awakened the citizens of Edinburgh from their
slumbers, and in the morning the lifeless remains of Darnley
were found forty yards beyond the town wall.2 It became the
special object of Knox and his brother preachers to persuade
the world that the Queen was the author of this murder, and
they resolved if possible to consummate their wickedness, by
leading her to the scaffold. The English ambassador Throg-
morton, "writing on the iQth of July, particularly mentions the
violence of Knox, whom nothing but the blood of the Queen could
satisfy'.' (Hosack, pag^356.) He adds "that he himself tried,
but in vain, to induce the confederate Lords to restrain the
savage licence of the preachers." The record office preserves a
1 See this document in " Tytler's History," vol. iii. page 403.
3 This was not the first time that Knox had conspired against Darnley. In the
"Bannatyne Memorials" 'we read : — "Robert Hamilton, the Protestant minister
of St. Andrews, openly declared that Mr. Knox was as great a murderer as any
Hamilton in Scotland, if all things were well examined ; for, said Mr. Robert, he
had subscribed to the death or slaughter of the Queen's husband, which should
have been done in St. Johnston."
First-fruits of Presbyterianism. 5 8 1
remarkable document which throws some light on this matter.
It is a letter dated 2nd of January, 1570, and addressed by
Knox to Cecil, warning that astute politician to ensure the
death of Queen Mary: "if ye strike not at the root," he says,
" the branches that appear to be broken will bud again, and
that more quickly than men can,;! believe, with greater force
than we could wish." (Ibid, page 500.)
When Mary was forced to seek an asylum with her bit-
terest enemy, in England, and the Earl of Moray assumed
the regency, halcyon days seemed to dawn upon Knox and
his associates. The scene, however, soon changed. Moray
was struck dead by an injured citizen in the streets of Lin-
lithgow, and the loud wail of sorrow with which Knox and
the kirk accompanied him to his grave clearly proved how
closely united were their interests with his. Troubled times
now awaited the Father of Presbyterianism. Knox had
become as hateful in the eyes of the populace of Edinburgh
as at one time he had been their idol. More than once he
was assailed in the streets ; he asked to have a body-guard
assigned to him for his safety, but the prayer was contemp-
tuously refused. Finding himself no longer safe in the capital
he set out for St. Andrew's. Here, however, fresh humilia-
tions and dangers awaited him. The mob, which he had so
often flattered in his harrangues, was now the tool of the
Hamiltons, and hooted him wherever he appeared. Thus the
Scottisji Reformer, worn out with wine and gluttony, as Laing
assures us, passed the last few months of his life in bitterness,
and a prey to grief and remorse, closed his wicked career in
the month of November, 1571.
The immediate results of the Presbyterian movement, in
which John Knox had taken so leading a part, may be easily
told. Scotland, which in Catholic times could boast of a
Wallace and a Bruce, and whose patriotism and love of country
had been proverbial, was now become a synonym for base-
ness and treason. A few years before, it defied the power
of England, and its alliance was courted by the greatest states
of Europe ; now its leaders were the tools of English intrigue,
whilst its constant tumults and civil wars merited for it the
pity, or the contempt of all Christendom. Morality had now
become a senseless name, and recklessness and crime were
the only paths to emolument and honour. The noble monu-
ments of ancient piety had been changed to crumbling ruins,
and, as if in type of the unhappy change that had fallen on
the church's destinies, sadness, like a mourning pall, seemed
to overspread the land : —
,VOL. v.
39
582 Resolutions of the Bishops of Ireland.
" Gone were the merry times of old —
The masque, and mirth, and glee,
And wearier was the palace then,
Than prison needs to be.
Forbidden were the vesper bells, —
They broke the Sabbath calm !
Hush'd were the notes of minstrelsy —
They chimed not with the psalm :
Twas sin to smile, 'twas sin to laugh,
'Twas sin to sport or play,
And heavier than a hermit's fast
Was each dull holiday.
Was but the sound of laughter heard,
Or tinkling of a lute,
Or worse than all, in royal hall,
The tread of dancing foot —
Then to a drove of gaping clowns
Would Knox with unction tell
The vengeance that in days of old,
Had fallen on Jezebel."
RESOLUTIONS OF THE BISHOPS OF
IRELAND.
WE are happy to present to our readers the following impor-
tant Resolutions, which were unanimously adopted by the
Bishops at their late Meeting in Maynooth : —
"The Catholic Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland, as-
sembled at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, on Wednesday,
the 1 8th of August, 1869, His Eminence Cardinal Cullen
presiding, deem it their duty to place on record, at this im-
portant crisis, the following resolutions respecting the Educa-
tion and Land questions: —
I. They reiterate their condemnation of the mixed system
of Education, whether Primary, Intermediate, or University,
as grievously and intrinsically dangerous to the faith and
morals of Catholic youth ; and they declare that to Catholics
only, and under the supreme control of the Church in all
things appertaining to faith and morals, can the teaching of
Catholics be safely entrusted. Fully relying on the love
which the Catholics of Ireland have ever cherished for their
ancient faith, and on the filial obedience they have uniformly
Resolutions of the Bishops of Ireland. 583
manifested towards their pastors, the bishops call upon the
clergy and the laity of their respective flocks to oppose by
every constitutional means the extension or perpetuation of
the mixed system, whether by the creation of new institu-
tions, by the maintenance of old ones, or by changing Trinity
College, Dublin, into a mixed college.
II. At the same time they recognise the right, as well as
the duty, of Catholic parents to procure as far as possible for
their children the advantages of a good secular education.
Justice demands that Catholic youth should enjoy endow-
ments and all other privileges on terms of perfect equality
with the youth of other persuasions, without which equality
in the matter of education, religious equality cannot be said
to have any real existence.
III. The bishops, without any wish to interfere with the
rights of persons of a different denomination, demand for
Catholics Catholic education, which alone is consonant to
their religious principles.
IV. The assembled Prelates, learning with pleasure that it
is the intention of Her Majesty's present advisers to legislate
for Ireland in accordance with the wishes of its people — and
of this they have given good earnest — trust that the distin-
guished statesman now at the head of the Government will,
with the aid of his able colleagues, give to Irish Catholics a
complete system of secular education based upon religion;
for it alone can be in keeping with the feelings and require-
ments of the vast majority of the nation.
V. As regards higher education, since the Protestants of
this country have had a Protestant University for three hun-
dred years, and have it still, the Catholic people of Ireland
clearly have a right to a Catholic University.
VI. But should Her Majesty's Government be unwilling
to increase the number of Universities in this country, the
bishops declare that religious equality cannot be realized,
unless the degrees, endowments, and other privileges
enjoyed by their fellow-subjects of^a different religion, be
placed within the reach of Catholics in the fullest sense of
equality. The injustice of denying to them a participation in
those advantages, except at the cost of principle and con-
science, is aggravated by the consideration, that whilst they
contribute their share to the public funds for the support of
Educational Institutions, from which conscience warns them
away, they have moreover to tax themselves for the educa-
tion of their children in their own colleges and university.
VII. Should it please Her Majesty's Government, there-
fore, to remove the many grievances to which Catholics are
584 Resolutions of the Bishops of Ireland.
subjected by existing University arrangements, and to estab-
lish one National University in this kingdom for examining
candidates and conferring degrees, the Catholic people of Ire-
land are entitled in justice to demand that in such a Univer-
sity, or annexed to it :
(a) They shall have a distinct College, conducted upon
purely Catholic principles, and at the same time fully partici-
pating in the privileges enjoyed by other Colleges of whatso-
ever denomination or character.
(b) That the University honours and emoluments be acces-
sible to Catholics equally with their Protestant fellow-subjects.
(c) That the Examinations and all other details of University
arrangement be free from every influence hostile to the
religious sentiments of Catholics, and that with this view the
Catholic element be adequately represented upon the Senate,
or other supreme University body, by persons enjoying the
confidence of the Catholic bishops, priests, and people of Ireland.
VIII. The bishops also declare, that the Catholics of Ireland
are justly entitled to their due proportion of the public funds
hitherto set apart for education in the Royal and other En-
dowed Schools.
IX. The bishops furthermore declare, that a settlement of
the University question, to be complete and, at the same time,
in accordance with the wishes of the Catholic people of Ireland,
must include the re-arrangement of the Queen's Colleges on
the Denominational principle.
X. Finally, the bishops of Ireland, deeply sympathising
with the sufferings of their faithful flocks, believe that the settle-
ment of the land question is essential to the peace and welfare
of the United Kingdom. They recognise the rights and the
duties of landlords. They claim, in the same spirit, the rights
as they recognise the duties of tenants. They believe that the
comparative destitution, the chronic discontent, and the de-
pressing discouragement of the people of Ireland, are, at this
period of her history, to be attributed more to the want of
a settlement of this question on fair and equitable principles
than to any other cause. Therefore, in the interest of all classes,
they earnestly hope that the responsible advisers of the Crown
will take this most important subject into immediate con-
sideration, and propose to Parliament such measures as may
restore confidence, stimulate industry, increase national wealth,
and lead to general union, contentment, and happiness.
The above Resolutions were unanimously adopted at a
Meeting of all the Catholic Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland,
heldat Maynooth on the \Wi of August of the present year, 1 869.
*PAUL CARDINAL CULLEN,
CHAIRMAN.
L iturgical Decrees. 585
LITURGICAL DECREES.
DE JEJUNIO PRAESCRIPTO AD LUCRANDAM
JUBILAEI INDULGENTIAM.
" Editis Litteris Apostolicis in forma Brevis die 1 1 Aprilis
1869, quibus SSmus D. N. Pius PP. IX omnibus Christifi-
delibus Indulgentiam Plenariam in forma Jubilaei occasione
Oecumenici Concilii concessit, huic S. Congregationi Indul-
gentiarum et SS. Reliquiarum infrascripta proposita sunt
dubiapraesertimcircajejunia,quaeChristifideles servaredebent,
ut Indulgentiam huius Jubilaei lucrari valeant. Quibus sedulo
perpensis S. Congregatio, benigne annuente Sanctissimo
Domino, respondendum censuit prout respondet.
DUBIA ET RESPONSA.
I. Inconcussi juris est, operibus alias praeceptis satisfied
non posse obligationi de operibus injunctis ad acquirendas
indulgentias, nisi aliud constet expresse de mente Concedentis ;
nihilominus pro hoc jubilaeo oritur dubium, quia in Litteris
Apostolicis legitur :' " praeter consueta quatuor anni tempora,
tribus diebus etiam non continuis, nempe quarta et sexta
feria, et sabbato jejunaverint." Quaeritur, an standum sit
regulae generali, ita ut ad effectum lucrandi Indulgentiam
omnes dies jejunii ad quod quisque tenetur, vel dies jejunii
quatuor anni temporum dumtaxat excludantur ?
R. Affirmative ad primam partem : negative ad secundam.
II. An jejunia quatuor anni temporum, attenta voce ilia
"praeter," ultra tria jejunia pro Jubilaeo expresse praescripta,
habenda sint uti opus injunctum ad Indulgentiam acqui-
r en dam ?
R. Negative.
III. An iis qui aut voto, aut praecepto, uti sunt Francisca-
les, aut quocumque alio titulo tenentur toto anni tempore
jejunare aliquo die ex diebus praescriptis pro Jubilaeo, suffra-
getur tale jejunum ad lucrandam Indulgentiam.
R. Affirmative.
IV. Cum Religiosi S. Francisci teneantur jejunare a secunda
die Novembris usque ad Nativitatem Domini, quaeritur,
utrum, hoc decurrente tempore, ipsi possint unico jejunio
tribus praescriptis diebus facto, satisfacere duplici obligation
turn praecepti, turn Jubilaei ?
R. Permittitur ex speciali Sanctitatis Suae indulto, dum-
modo esurialibus tantum cibis pro dictis tribus Jubilaei
jejuniis utantur, quamvis fortasse ab usu ciborum esurialium
dispensationem pro dicta Quadragesima obtinuerint.
586 Liturgical Decrees.
V. An idem dicendum sit pro Quadragesima Ecclesiae etiam
quoad Christifideles ?
R. Permittitur ex speciali Sanctitatis suae indulto, ut in re-
sponsione ad quartum dubium, et cum eadem conditione in
ea apposita.
VI. Utrum jejeunia pro jubilaeo praescripta debeant esse
jejunia stricte sumpta, etiam quoad qualitatem ciborum sicuti
ea, quae ex Ecclesiae praecepto adimplenda sunt, quin tamen
quis uti possit indultis, si quae pro jejuniis Ecclesiae obtenta
fuerint ?
R. Affirmative, nisi aliquod speciale indultum, in quo etiam
de Jubilaei jejunio expressa mentio fiat, obtineatur.
VII. Si quis indultum vescendi carnibus etiam pro jejuniis
Jubilaei consequatur, teneturne lege de non permiscendis
epulis, nempe carnibus cum piscibus ?
R. Affirmative.
VIII. An ii, qui ad statutam aetatem projejuniiobligatione
nondum pervenerint, nee non operarii, aliique, qui ob legiti-
mam causam ad jejunia ab Ecclesia praecepta non tenentur,
debeant jejunare, ut Jndulgentiam lubilaei lucrentur ?
R. Affirmative. Quod si judicio Confessarii id praestare
nequiverint, Confessarius ipse potent jejunium in alia pia
opera commutare.
IX. In Litteris Apostolicis legitur "tribus diebus etiam
non continuis." Quaeritur, an in hoc Jubilaeo, ob dicta
verba, singuli dies jejunii in diversas hebdom^das dividi
possint
R. In hoc Jubilaeo affirmative.
X. Attenta clausula "hac vice tantum" quaeritur, an qui in
censuras et casus reservatos incident, una tantam vice absolvi
possit, prout edixit Bened. XIV. in Constit. " Inter graviores"
vel potius in hoc Jubilaeo toties quoties in censuras et casus
reservatos incurrerit, absolvi possit ?
R. Affirmative ad primam partem : negative ad secundam.
XI. An qui privilegio Bullae Cruciatae gaudet, hoc tantum
titulo, sine alia causa, in jejuniis Jubilaei carnibus vesci possit ?
XII. An saltern vesci valeat ovis et lacticiniis ?
R. ad XI. et XII. Permittitur ex speciali Sanctitatis Suae
indulto, ut ii qui privilegio Bullae Cruciatae legitime fruuntur,
tantum ovis et lacticiniis in jejuniis pro hoc Jubilaeo praescriptis
uti possint, servata in ceteris jejunii ecclesiastici forma.
Datum Romae e Sacra Congregatione Indulgentiarum et
SS. Reliquiarum die 10 Julii 1869."
A. CARD. BIZZARRI, Praefectus,
Pro R. P. D. Secretario,
Dominicus Sarra Pro-Substitutus.
Address to His Holiness Pope Pius IX. 587
ADDRESS TO HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS IX.
We feel great pleasure in publishing the following address
of the Catholic University to his Holiness, on the occasion of
the fiftieth Anniversary of his ordination : —
SANCTISSIMO DOMINO NOSTRO PIO PAP^E IX.
. BEATISSIME PATER,
Nos, Rector, professores, domuum
praepositi, examinatores, concionatores, et alumni hujus
Universitatis Catholicae quae Te auctorem et conditorem
suum esse gloriatur, Tibi ad Pedes provoluti, Deo imprimis
gratias humillimas agimus, quod per tot annos Te ad eccle-
siam suam gubernandam et regendam, incolumem servavit ;
et deinde Tibi ipsi, Sanctissime Pater, gratulamur, quod
quinquagesimum sacerdotii tui annum hodie tam feliciter
complevisti.
Ad Te, Beatissime Pater, nobis prae caeteris fas est gratu-
lantibus accedere ; tuis enim literis apostolicis admoniti,
Episcopi Hiberniae nostrae, quae per tot casus semper in fide
Catholica manet, hanc Universitatem, non sine multis labori-
bus, fundaverunt et usque ad hunc diem fovent et sustinent.
Omnes fere Universitates celeberrimae, quae in caeteris
Europae regionibus hodie existunt, ab augustis Petri succes-
soribus fundatae, vel certe privilegiis amplissimis ditatae sunt.
Ita per omnia tempora, Sedes Apostolica se scientiae et
doctrinae verae cultricem et fautricem semper praebuit.
Scriptores ipsi Ethnici quorum libros in nostra philosophiae
et literarum Facultate tractamus, docent canos capillos magna
reverentia adolescentibus esse venerandos. Nee nos, nee
patres nostri unquam sacram sacerdotii dignitatem summo
honore desiimus habere.
Quum tamen Te, Beatissime Pater, non solum ut virum
canitie venerandum, et sacerdotem sanctissimum,sed ut Regem
insigni providentia divina regnantem, et Christi ipsius
Vicarium agnoscamus, nos, animis religione impletis, Te vene-
ramur, ut omnium regnorum in Europa existentium regni
veterrimi regem, et verbis Sancti Columbani nostri Te salu-
tamus ut "omnium ecclesiarum in toto orbe existentium
praesulem, ut pastorum pastorem, ut navis spiritualis, quae
est ecclesia Dei, magistrum et gubernatorem."
Nee modo patres fidei Nostrae venerabiles, sed virgines
ipsae humiles, et imprimis Brigida Virgo, sancta Hibernorum
omnium Patrona, summa pietate ad Sancti Petri altare munera
588 Address to His Holiness Pope Pins IX.
sua solebant offerre. Nos quoque, Beatissime Pater, Tibi et
Petro apostolorum principi ad pedes munuscula nostra exigua
humillime offerre cupimus. Sint igitur tibi hae litterae et
haec munuscula nostra indicio, nos, Beatissime Pater, tibi et
Sanctae Sedi Apostolicae toto animo esse devotos.
Deum quoque quotidie precamur, ut haec Universitas
Catholica, Tua auctoritate Apostolica nuper condita, nun-
quam a fide vera, neque a debito erga Sanctam Sedem Apos-
tolicam obsequio, vel minimum in modum sit deflexura.
Denique Sanctitatis Tuae Benedictionem Apostolicam sup-
pliciter demisseque efflagitamus, quae nobis et huic universitati
nostrae bonorum omnium et pignus sit et fons perennis.
Datum Dublini ex Universitatis Catholicae aedibus,
III. Id. Aprilis, Anno Salutis MDCCCLXIX.
REPLY OF HIS HOLINESS TO THE ABOVE
ADDRESS.
Dilectis Filiis Rector i et a I us omnibus Universitatis Catholicae
Dublinensis, Dublinum.
PIUS PP. IX.
DILECTI FILII, SALUTEM ET APOSTOLICAM BENEDICTIONEM,
Tarn eximia sunt filialis vestrae erga Nos devotionis, amoris
et pietatis testimonia vestris in litteris expressa quas occasione
quinquagesimi anniversarii diei a Sacerdotali nostra consecra-
tione dedistis, ut ea animo Nostro maximam consolationem
attulerint. Ex iis enim luculenter agnovimus qua fide et
obsequio Nobis, et huic Petri Cathedrae adhaereatis majorum
vestrorum illustria exempla sectantes, quam praestans vigeat
in ista Universitate, quam magna cum laude Sacrorum Hiber-
niae Antistitum, et jucunditate cordis Nostri constitutam
vidimus, et religionis et Catholicae Fidei amor, ac zelus, et
quam merito ex praesentibus fructibus certam, atque uberem
in dies utilitatem Catholicae Hiberniae ex Ipsa sperare
debeamus. Nos equidem, Dilecti Filii, vestrorum animorum
significationes et libenter accepimus, et merita laude prosequi-
mur, ac pro filialibus oblationibus, quas etiam Vestrae erga Nos,
et Beatissimum Petrum Apostolorum Principem, pietatis testes
esse voluistis, gratissimum animum Nostrum paterno affectu
profitemur. Dum autem Vos cohortamur, ut omnem semper
operam sanctissimae Religioni Nostrae, ej usque salutari doctri-
nae impendere contendatis, a Deo Optimo Maximo humiliter
cxposcimus ut propitius super Vos coelestia sua munera
effundat, ct Catholicam istam Universitatem omnium bonorum
Address to His Holiness Pope Pins IX. 589
copia exornet atque augeat. Hujus autem supernae benigni-
tatis auspicem, et praecipuae Nostrae erga Vos benevolentiae
testem, Apostolicam Benedictionem Vobis, Dilecti Filii,
singulis universis toto cordis affectu peramanter impertimus.
Datum Romae apud S. Petrum,
Die 28 Junii, anno 1869.
Pontificatus Nostri anno Vicesimo-quarto.
PlUS PP. IX.
ADDRESS OF THE SUPERIORS, PROFESSORS,
AND STUDENTS OF ST. PATRICK'S COLLEGE,
MAYNOOTH, TO OUR MOST HOLY FATHER.
SANCTISSIMO PATRI PIO IX, PONTIFICI MAXIMO.
BEATISSIME PATER,
Nos, Praeses, Propraeses, Magistri
Officii, Professores, atque Alumni Romano-Catholici Collegii
Sancti Patricii apud Maynooth in Hibernia, tenerrima in
Sanctitatem Tuam pietate adducti, ad pedes submisse provo-
luti, summum nostrum in Te studium, summamque venera-
tionem, atque integerrimam fidem profitemur; et humillime
Te rogamus ut pro eximia Tua benignitate nobis permittas
vehementissime Tibi et tota mente gratulari quod hie quin-
quagesimus jam adest annus ex quo amplissima Tu Sacerdotii
dignitate insignitus es.
Nos quidem in Seminario clericorum viventes, quibus curae
omnes cogitationesque in illud conferendae sunt ut quae
virtutes hominem Ecclesiasticum deceant et exornent, eas
diligentissime persequamur et excolamus, maximo amcimur
gaudio quum mente memoriaque complectimur quanto Tu
studio quantaque diligentia impulsus abhinc annos amplius
quinquaginta omnium optimarum artium, sanctitatis, pietatis
in Deum, ceterarumque virtutum eximiarum ista semina
jeceris, quae fecundissimum nacta solum, laetificante gratia
Divina, fructus uberrimos et praestantissimos reddiderunt.
Quibus quidem virtutibus exornatus ita omnia Sacerdotis,
Episcopi, Cardinalis munia adimplesti ut laudes omnium et
admirationem excitares; ut facillime quasi divino quodam
indicio constaret Te esse dignissimum qui ad sublimem ac
summe venerandam Sancti Petri Cathedram ascenderes. Quod
si per tot jam annos amplissimi et gravissimi muneris Tui onus
sustinuisti, illud ipsum baud obscurum est signum benignissi-
mae Dei in Te voluntatis atque auxilii potentissimi. Etenim
qui cogitaverit quanta TibL fortunae varietas in diuturno TUQ
59O Address to His Holiness Pope Pius IX.
pontificatu contigerit, quum in maximis continuisque fere peri-
culis versatus esses, ei certe dubitandum non est quin Omni-
potens Deus majore quadam cura, providentiaque plane
singular! Te semper foverit et conservaverit. Neque profecto
hoc mirum videbiturquum in memoria habeamus quot quamque
eximia beneficia Deus in Ecclesiam Suam per Te conferre
destinaverit Nam primum Sanctitati Tuae, id quod pro Tua
ipsius integerrima vita, insigni in Deum pietate, invicta fidei
constantia, ardentissimo Dei gloriae atque hominum salutis
promovendae studio, maxime decebat, tot servos suos qui
haec novissima secula heroicarum virtutum splendore illustra-
runt Sanctorum ordinibus adscribendi maxima et gratia et
gloria a Deo concessa est.
Turn quis nescit quanta laetitia omnes Christi Fideles cog-
noverint dignitatem sanctitatemque Christiani Matrimonii a
Te esse plenissime vindicatam ; fallaces conclusiunculas philo-
sophiae corruptae atque ementitae damnatas; jura verae salu-
brisque libertatis definita et confirmata; insanam scelestissimo-
rum hominum licentiam nefariamque rerum evertendarum
cupiditatem perculsam et reprobatam.
Praecipua vero cum cura, Beatissime Pater, atque summa
diligentia pessimos istos de puerorum educatione errores, qui
hac aetate quam plurimos pervaserunt, iterum et saepius pro-
scripsisti ; jura Ecclesiae in hac gravissima re dirigenda et
moderanda vindicasti; et pro praestantissima Apostolici
Tui muneris auctoritate edocuisti quantum animarum salutis
intersit atque totius Reipublicae Christianae utilitatum ut
pueri verae integraeque fidei praeceptis ab ipsis statim incu-
nabulis instituantur, neve tenerae eorum mentes aut rerum
divinarum negligentia aut noxiis errorum venenis corrum-
pantur.
Sed singula in religionem et universam Ecclesiam per Te
collata beneficia enarrare non possumus. Quis est enim
Fidelium ordo qui non Tuum amantissimi Patris affectum
erga se exhibitum senserit ? Quae est orbis terrarum regio
cui non suavissima ac sapientissima Tua Ecclesiae regendae
ratio saluberrime prospexerit ? Quae denique res est, quae
quidem ad veram hominum utilitatem felicitatemque per-
tineat, quam non omni ope atque acerrimo studio promoven-
dam curaveris ?
Sed inter res omnes a Te optime et praeclarissime gestas
una est quae magis in dies magisque Tibi gratias, laudes
admirationemque omnium vere Christianorum in posterum
conciliatura est, neque ejus memoriam ulla unquam delebit
oblivio. Tibi enim, Beatissime Pater, pro summa ilia Tua
vel a teneris annis erga Sanctissimam Dei Genitricem
Address to His Holiness Pope Pius IX. 591
Virginem Mariam veneratione, pietate, et affectu, praecipua
sane contigit gloria et felicitas ut Paraclito Spiritu sic ad-
spirante totius Ecclesiae Catholicae votis annuens supremo
Tuo atque infallibili oraculo defmieris Beatam Virginem
Mariam in primo instanti suae conceptionis fuisse ab
omni originalis culpae labe praeservatam immunem. Quae
quidem solemnis Fidei defmitio quum omnibus ubique ter-
rarum Fidelibus plurimum attulerit jucunditatis, turn praecipue
hanc ipsam nostram patriam mira quadam atque incredibili
fere gaudio laetitiaque complevit ; quippe quae ab ista Tua
Sancta Romana Ecclesia omnium Ecclesiarum Matre et
Magistra, Catholicae veritatis et Unitatis Centre, traducem
fidei mutuata, et a Beatissimo Patrono Nostro Patricio edocta,
Deiparae Virginis honorem, amplitudinem, sanctitatem,
gloriam atque adeo Immaculatam Ejus Conceptionem summo
semper gaudio, summoque amore colendam et conservandam
susceperit.
Quod si cetera insignia Pontificatus Tui facta omittamus
necesse sit, illud certe praetermittendum non est quod quum
scelestissimi homines sacris omnibus aris templis religioni
execrandum atque atrocissimum bellum inferentes in Te
maxime et in ilium Tuum antiquissimum Principatum, in quo
praecipuum Rei Christianae atque etiam civilis auctoritatis
robur ac firmamentum perspexerunt esse constitutum, in-
credibili quodam furore et insania impellerentur, Tu nullis
periculis perterritus constantiae admirabilis verae animi
magnitudinis atque invictae fortitudinis exemplum plane
unicum et nullis unquam laudibus satis praedicandum ex-
hibuisti.
Quod vero nunc restat ut dicamus, Beatissime Pater, quum
sacrum oecumenicum omnium Episcoporum Catholici orbis
concilium cum summa fidelium spe et laetitia atque piissima
expectatione jamjam celebrandum convocaveris, et novas
curas, novos eosque gravissimos suscepturus sis labores illud
moderandi regendi atque pro suprema Tua ac divinitus insti-
tuta auctoritate confirmandi nos hoc suavissimum gratissi-
mumque nostrae in Te pietatis officium certo non omittemus
ut omnibus semper precibus, et praesertim sanctissimum
Missae sacrificium offerentes Omnipotentem Deum etiam
atque etiam exoremus ut diu Te salvum incolumemque con-
servet, et praesentissimum ejus auxilium atque singularis ilia
Providentia semper Tibi adsit, ut ita omnia quae Tibi in votis
sint ad felicissimum exitum perducantur.
Quod ad nos attinet, illud Tibi certissimo pollicemur nullam
Tibi a nobis unquam defuturam, neque in amore constantiam,
neque in obsequio diligentiam neque in dignitate Tua atque
juribus tuendis et vindicandis industriam.
592 Address to His Holiness Pope Pius IX.
Quum vero, Beatissime Pater, Tibi significare vellemus qui
esset noster in Te animus munusculum quoddam satis
exiguum baud sane exigui amoris signum ad Te deferendum
curavimus, quod ut pro benignissima Tua ac paterna in nos
voluntate accipere digneris venerabundi humillime rogamus ;
et Beatissimos pedes iterum deosculantes Sancitatem Tuam ut
nobis Apostolicae Benedictionis gratiam impertiatur suppli-
citer exoramus.
REPLY OF HIS HOLINESS TO THE ABOVE
ADDRESS.
Dilectis Filiis, Prczsidi,Pro-Prcesidi, Magistris Officii, Profes-
soribus et Alumnis Collegii Romano -Catholici, Sti. Patricii,
May nooth, in Hibernia.
Dilecti Filii Salutem et Apostolicam Benedictionem. Multa
Nobis suavissimas fecere significationes obsequii et amoris
vestri adjectumque iis munus. Principio enim iucunda semper
per se sunt parenti filiorum officia ; et quae unitatis Catholicae
spiritum praeferunt nequeunt acceptissima non esse Christi
Vicario. Deinde, cum a litterarum et severiorum disciplinarum
professoribus pendeat recta iuventutis institutio, et in eorum
alumnis religiosae juxta ac civilis societatis spes sita sit ;
eximium in utrisque studium erga hanc Sanctam Sedem sicut
indubiumest sanae doctrinae pietatisquepignus,sic sanctissimae
religioni nostrae est auspicatissimum. Denique recensio ipsa
vestris commissa litteris singularium et illustrium eventuum,
quibus Divina Providentia, frustra obnitentibus inferni po-
testatibus et humana malitia, postremis hisce temporibus,
Ecclesiam suam vel defendit, vel miro splendore circumfudit
sic vigere fidem vestram ostendit, ut nihil quod faustum
fortunatumque sit ab ea sperandum non videatur. Officia
itaque vestra et dona et omina laeto gratoque excepimus animo ;
nee aliud Nobis optandum reliquerunt nisi, ut egregiam hanc
animi comparationem sedulo servare nitamini, studiisque
omnibus in dies fovere : adeoque Deum rogavimus, ut con-
nrmare velit quod operatus est in vobis, copiosisque vos augere
gratiae suae muneribus. Horum vero auspicem et grati animi
Nostri paternaeque benevolentiae testem Apostolicam Bene-
dictionem vobis peramanter impertimus.
Datum Romae, apud S. Petrum, die 14 Julii, 1869,
Pontificatus Nostri Anno XXIV.
PIUS P.P. IX.
A ncient Monasteries of Ireland. 5 93
MONASTICON HIBERNICUM;
OR,
A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT
MONASTERIES OF IRELAND.
[N.B. — The text of the " Monasticon" is taken verbatim from Archdall: the notes
marked with numbers are added by the Editors. ]
COUNTY OF ARMAGH.
1070. Died another archidnach, Moelbrigid, the son of
Cathasach.d
1071. Died Christian Hua Clothocain, professor of divinity
in this school, and principal doctor of all the Irish.6
1074. On the Thursday after the feast of St. Phillip and St.
James, a dreadful fire happened in this town, by which the
citadel,* and all the houses, churches, and bells were
destroyed.^
1075. Cumascacius O'Heradain died, having enjoyed the
abbacy three years only.h
1077. Died Colga Hua Heradhain, steward of the poor of
Armagh.1
1 08 1. Died M'Condabhall, a principal presbyter.k
1091. The citadel was consumed from the middle part of it
towards the west.1
1092. The churches, with the citadel, together with a part
of Trien Mor and Trien Saxon, were burned on the 29th of
August.111
1093. Another fatal fire happened this year.11
1094. The Comarba of St. Patrick made a grand visitation
throughout Ireland, and during his absence the town was
plundered.0
noo. Imar was abbot; he was master to the famous St.
Malachy, who was afterwards archbishop of Armagh.?31
&Tr. Th. ibid. *Id. tTke Annals of Inisfall tell us that this conflagration hap-
pened in the year 1077, and that only part of Ardpatrick (the citadel) was destroyed.
*Tr. Th. ibid. *Id. ^Id. **d. lld. ™Id. *Id. °Annal. Inisfal. *Tr. Th. ibid.
31 Imhar Hua N Aedhagain, or Ivar O'Hagan, was one of the teachers of the great
St. Malachy of Armagh. He is thus described by St. Bernard in "Vita S.
Malachise: — "There was a man in the city of Armagh, and that man was holy,
and of exceedingly austere life, and an inexorable chastener of his body. Having
a cell near the church he made it his abode, giving himself up to fastings and
prayers night and day. To this man Malachy repaired, in order to fashion his
life according to the model of one that had condemned himself to such a burying-
alive." He died on the I3th August, 1143, when on a pilgrimage to Rome.
594 Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
1 102. The blessed Mugron Hua Morgair, father of Maol-
meog, and of Giolla Chriost,q chief professor of divinity of this
school and of all Europe, died in the monastery of Mungaret,
in the county of Limerick, on the 5th of October/
1 103. Muircheartagh, with the people of Leathmoghanughad,
encamped at Armagh, with the Connatians and Methians,
and beseiged the town for a fortnight, and did greatly
damage it.8
1107. Moel patrick O'Drugan entered upon the divinity
lecturership of this abbey on the feast of St. Albe.1
1 1 08. Died the archidach Aid ; he was the son of Dubdaleth,
the third bishop of Armagh, and, had he lived, would have
been promoted to the comorbship of St. Patrick ;u from this
and other instances it appears, that many of the clergy in
Ireland, and in other countries, were married men ; and to this
effect Doctor Lynch, the learned author of Cambrensis Eversus,
writes to Roderick O'Flaherty.w32
1 1 12. The citadel, with the churches, two streets in Trian
Massain, and a third in Trian Mor, were destroyed by fire ;
from hence it appears, that the town was formerly divided
into four parts : — I. Rath Patrick, i.e., the citadel. 2. Trian
Mor, i.e., the greater third portion. 3. Trian Massain, i.e.,
. 4. Trian Saxon, i.e., the third portion of the
Saxons ; here the English students resided.x 33
*Anal. Inisfal. *Tr. Th. ibid. »Annal. Inisfal. *Tr. Th. ibid. *Id.
* O1 Flaherty ut supra. *Tr. Th. ibid.
32 The assertion made here by our author that the Irish clergy did not practise
celibacy is painfully out of place among his notices of so many saintly bishops and
priests who looked upon chastity as the brightest among the sacerdotal virtues in
which they strove to excel. This is not the place to refute at any length such an
assertion. For our present purpose it is enough to quote a few of the enactments
which were binding in this matter, in the ancient Irish church: —
a. "Si quis clericus vel superior gradus, qui uxorem habuit, et post honorem
iterum earn cognoverit, sciat se adulterium commississe. " (Canon in Missal of
Columbanus I. )
b. " Si quis autem clericus, aut diaconus vel alicujus gradus, qui laicus fuit in
seculo cum filiis et filiabus, post conversionem suam iterum suam cognoverit
clientelam, et filium: iterum de ea genuerit, sciat se adulterium perpetrasse, et non
minus peccasse quam si at juventute sua clericus fuisset et cum puella aliena pec-
casset, quia post votum suum peccavit, post quam se Domino consecravit, et
votum suum irritum fecit, idcirco septem annis in pane et aqua peniteat." (St.
Columbanus, Liber, de Penitentiarum mensura taxanda.)
c. " Si clericus aut monachus, post quam se Deo voverit, ad secularem habitum
iterum reversus fuerit, aut uxorem duxerit decem annis peniteat, tribus ex his in
pane et aqua, et nunquam postea in conjugio copuletur. Quod si noluerit, Sancta
Synodus, vel sedes apostolica seperavit eos a communione et convocationibus
Catholicorum." St. Cummian, Penitentiale. See "Irish Ecclesiastical Record,"
vol. iv. : " The Bishop of Argyle and the early Celtic Church. "
33 Trian means a third portion; but, like our "quarter" it came, to signify "a
district, without any reference to proportion. In the case of Armagh, however,
the numerical import of the word was observed, for there were only the Trian
Mor, or "Great Ward;" Trian Ma sain, or Masan's Ward; and Trian Saxan, or
The County Armagh. 595
1113. Died Flannagan, the son of Moelisa, who, had he
lived, would have succeeded to the abbac.y
1 1 1 6. The abbey, with twenty other buildings, was this year
consumed by fire.2
1 121. Two streets in Trian Massain, from the gate of Rathene
to the cross of St. Brigid, were burned ;a and in the month of
December, a great tempest blew down the roof of the
tower.b
1 126. The great church of St. Peter and St. Paul, rebuilt by
Imar Hua Hoedhagain, who was abbot in the year noo, was
consecrated on the 2ist of October; the abbot had a cell
near to the church, where he continued in fasting and prayer
day and night.c
1132. The blessed Moelbrigid, the son of Dolghen, prin-
cipal presbyter, and the most celebrated elder of all Ireland,
died August the 27th, in the 52nd year of his priesthood, and
8oth of his age.d
1133. Died Conang, the archidnach, he was the son of
Dubdal.6
1134. The abbot Imar having undertaken a pilgrimage to
Rome died there; he was succeeded by St. Gilda Macabeus,
or Mochaibeo.f
1136. Died the blessed Moelisa Moelcolumb, a celebrated
antiquary and librarian of this abbey.^
1137. This town was destroyed by lightning.11
1138. The blessed Moelpatrick Hua Drugain, the wisest
doctor of the Irish, and first professor in this house, the most
learned man of all Western Europe, and equally remarkable
for his piety and religion, died on the 2nd of January, in his
pilgrimage, in the abbey of Monainsheigh, in the county of
Tipperary.1 The same year Christian O'Morgair,34 bishop of
Clogher, was buried here under the great altar.k
1140. The lecturer O'Kotherny died.1
1142. Cathasach Hua Kirchaorach, professor of divinity,
and the most learned of the Irish, died.m
1 149. Macratheus, the benign and venerable elder of the
clergy of Armagh, died this year.n
*Tr. Th.tind.p.yx>. ZM *Id. *Id. cld. p. 303. d/^. e/</. *Id. *Id. p. 304.
h/</. p. 663. */</. //. 281, 304. k War. Bishops. lAnnal. Inisfal. ™Tr. Th.
p. 305. *Id. p. 306.
" English Ward. " The Trian Saxan was the region embraced by Upper En-
glish and Abbey streets, and from it English street probably derived its name.
The Trian Masain seems to have included Market-street, and the adjacent parts
of Thomas and Scotch-streets. The Trian Mor probably included Irish-street,
Callan-street, and the western region of the town. (Reeves' Churches of Armagh. )
34 Christian, or Gillacreest O'Morgair, was the brother of St. Malachy of
Armagh.
596 Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
1150. On the 24th of November, fire destroyed that part of
the town which is called Trian-mor, from the middle and
northern part.0
1 152. Died Fergal Hua Ferchubhuis, some time professor of
divinity in this abbey, and also lecturer in the church of St.
Columba, in Armagh.?
1 155. Died Marian O'Moel-chierain, archidnach of Armagh,
a friendly and hospitable man to both the clergy and laity .1
1156. Died Turlogh the great, monarch of Ireland; he
founded a new professorship of divinity in this abbey/
1 1 59. Abel and Gilda Muredach, two anachorites of Armagh,
died this year.8
1162, In a synod held in Claonadh1 it was decreed that no
person should be admitted professor of divinity in any church
in Ireland, who had not studied at this university.11
1164. Part of the town was burnt.w
1 1 66. The whole town, from the cross of St. Columb, on
both sides, to that of St. Owen, and from thence to the cross
at the gate of Rathene, was consumed by fire, the church
dedicated to the Saints Peter and Paul excepted.x
1167. Died Moel Michael O'Dothecain an excellent pres-
byter/35
1169. Roderic O'Conchobhair, King of Conaught, to ad-
vance learning in this university, granted to the head master
of the school an additional pension annually of ten oxen,
and bound his successors to fulfill the said grant, on con-
dition that a public school should be there kept open for all
scholars from every part of Ireland and Scotland.2
1173. This town was plundered.01
1174. Florence O' Gorman, head moderator of this school,
and of all the schools in Ireland, a man well skilled in
divinity, and deeply learned in all the sciences, died on the
2Oth of March, in the 7Oth year of his age ; he had studied
°7>. Th. p. 306. ^Id. p. 308. ^Id. *0'HaHoran, v. 2, p. 316. 8 Tr. Th. p. 309.
W0w called Clane, in the county of Kildare. ^Annal. Inisfal. id. ibid. w/</. *Id.
*Id. ZM p. 1 10. &Annal. Inisfal.
35 Primate Conchovar M 'Conchailleadh died at Semene, near Chamberry, on his
return from Rome. In 1854, his saintly successor, Primate Dixon, on his return
from Rome, whither he had gone to assist at the definition of the Immaculate Con-
ception, said Mass at the shrine S. Conchovar, in the Monastery of SS. 'Peter and
Paul, at Semene. He brought back to Armagh a considerable portion of the holy
confessor's remains. The hymn sung in praise of S. Conchovar, or, as he is
called, S. Cornelius, begins as follows: —
Ave Pater gloriose,
Salve Praesul pretiose
Quoandam Pater Illandice
Nunc decus Sabaudiae.
(See Dr. Dixon's Journey to Rome, &c., 1855.)
The County Armagh. 597
for twenty-one years in France and England, and governed
the schools of Ireland for the course of twenty years.b On
the 3 ist of March died the abbot St. Giolla Mochadbeo, in
the /oth year of his age ; he was a faithful servant of Christ.0
The same year the abbot Conchovar M'Conchailleadh was
chosen archbishop/1
1178. Sir John de Courcey plundered this town, and the
archdeacon of the abbey, Thomas O' Corcoran, was barbar-
ously murdered.6
1179. The whole town, with the churches and chapels, and
the reliques of St. Brigid, were consumed by an accidental
fire.f Notwithstanding this severe visitation, William Fitz
Adelm did plunder the abbey of St. Patrick's crosier, and
carried it to Dublin.^
1184. Philip of Worcester, procurator, or chief governor of
the kingdom, with a great army, did ravage this town during
the continued space of six days.h
1 1 88. Died Martin O'Brolaigh, or O'Brolachan, the pro-
fessor of divinity ; he was esteemed to be the most learned
Irishman of his time.1
1189. John de Courcey plundered the town; the same
year it was consumed by fire from cross Brigid to her chapel.k
1195. This abbey, with all the churches, and great part of
the Rath, was destroyed by fire.1
1199. De Courcey again plundered the town, and set on
fire every church and house therein.™
1203. Died the abbot Moelisa O'Dorigh of Tirconnell.n
1206. Hugh de Lacie, the younger, for ten days and nights
plundered the town and abbey, for which he soon felt the
vengeance of the Saints of Ireland.0
1208. On the vigil of St. Brigid, the town was again plun-
dered by de Lacie.P
1373. The King, Edward III. granted to James Bellen a
carrucate of land, with the appurtenances, in the Curragh,
near Dundalk, part of the possessions of this abbey then
seized in the King's hands, the said abbot and convent being
mere Irish, and spending their rents and profits for the sup-
port and entertainment of the Irish ; the said Bellen to hold
the same during life, if they continued so long in the King's
hands.q
1375. Nicholas was abbot, when an inquisition was taken
concerning the said seizure, and the jury finding that the
* Annal. Lagenicc, and Inisfal. Tr, Th. p. no. c Annal Inisfal. Tr. Th. ibid.
Act SS. p. 200. d7>. Th. p. 210. *Annal. Inisfal. ild. ibid. Annal. Inisfal.
* Annal. Inisfal. h War. Annals. iTr. Th. p. 310. k Annal. Inisfal. lld. ™Id.
*Tr. Th. p. 501. * Annal. Inisfal. M'Geog.. ? Annal. Inisfal. Harris Collect, v. 3.
VOL. V. 40
598 A ncient Monasteries of Ireland.
abbot and convent were good and faithful subjects, the lands
were restored/
1397. Died the abbot Nicholas O'Luchecan.8
1539. Patrick O'Hagan was abbot. By an inquisition
taken this year, the abbot was found to be seized of the site
of the abbey ; twelve gardens within the town ; the third-part
of the townland of Dromcote ; the sixth-part of the townland
of Tyrnarnunagell ; the fourth-part of the townland of Tul-
laghloyst ; the fourth-part of the townland of Enaghboy ; the
third-part of the townland of Aghanoyce ; the third-part of
the townland of Tullaghelmayne ; and the sixth-part of the
townland of Downalloghe ; all near the town of Armagh ; and
a parcel of land called Knock Ederyn, lying near to the abbey ;
these were the mensal lands belonging thereto. He was seized
also of the townlands of Ballyleanmore, Clawdoughe, Kille-
meky, Ballyleanbegge, Dromvolly, the third part of Ancagh,
in the parish of Clonkarney ; Ballyneydarragh, Drountee,
Lourgowergh, Ballyvically, Downlyr, Cavanaghan, Prosna-
whyghe, in the parish of Clonkoughrose ; Crecanmore, Fallee,
Correcleigh, Aghagoran, Tassaagh, Tearrarlee, Crewroe, in the
parish of Tueaghy, all in the same county.
The lands of Cloghan, Corraghe, Cloghum, Tullough
O'Sarran, Aughan O'Cloyghy, Crcssereen, Moulegournagh,
near Armagh, towards Clonall ; and all the tithes of the said
lands, and of ten shillings Irish money, annually at the feast
of All Saints, out of each of the townlands above mentioned ;
and the abbot and his convent, with all their servants and
officers, had yearly on the feast of St. Philip and St. James,
an entertainment provided them out of all the aforesaid lands.
The abbot was also seized of a grange, containing the two
townlands of Corheenan, in the parish of Tynan, and the
townland of Clonarb, in the said parish ; and the advowson of
the church, and a townland belonging thereto, called Maugei-
grene, in the parish of Clankan, and the annual rent of twenty-
one shillings and fourpence out of Daughleernhan, in the said
parish, on the feast of All Saints.1
James O'Donelly was the last prior, for an inquisition taken
the first of November, in the first year of Queen Elizabeth,
1557, finds that he had surrendered the abbey, being then
seized of the site thereof, whereon there was a large church,
some stone chambers, a dormitory, with cellars beneath it, an
hall, a storehouse, a great court, a cemitery, garden and
orchard. A parcel of land called Garry, Templemurry, and
Garrynenamus ; a parcel containing acres in Knockadrain,
1 'Harris Collect, v. 3. 8 War Mss. vol. 34. *King, p. 233.
The County Armagh. 599
Dromcoote, Lurgaboyourah, Aghamoote, the grange of the
townland of Lurgaboy in Clanconnaghy, townland of Drom-
nemuickee, Tallynemalloroogh, Mullinesillagh, grange of
Bally M'Cally in Clanconnoghy, Broaghucclogh. Leatery,
Inclonconnoghy, Lurgalachtnemingle, Tullaghbofin, grange of
Sessiaghneogrechanphy, Carnevanaghran, townland of Riesky-
roddeh, Foallee, Fullynory, Tyranegargill, Aghanore, Knock-
enbog, Lurgaboylighragh, Seskinultagh, Agheter Toyl, alias
Knock Toyl, Cornegillagh, Broaghcullen, Dromenecheghy,
townland of Shancaragh, Lismore, Dromentee, Cavenaghgroah,
Tulloghboreagh, Drumlirk in Mullatmesilligh, Carnasinagher,
Knockeddershrogh de Foalle cum Knocknegressegh, Tullagh-
losky, Tullyclinane, Aghagonnell, Knockatreely, Carrigenare,
Aghavallagh, Coolaghill and the grange, alias Aghacarragh ;
grange of Tobbersuawght, Doonlish, alias Portsuisin, Mullagh-
dromerbeh ; grange of Odenegreanan, Rieskenefedoge, An-
naghboy, Dunollogh, Tyregarve, Lurgaboy, Knockanroe,
Knocknespedoge, Ballymaccally, Knockancrimmar, Dromen-
echeir, Cloonrecleigh, Ballendarragh, Lisreagh, Dromentee,
Annaghnullogs, Cavenaghroah, Clanconnoghy, Donebanevan,
Carnvannaghan, Taghabugg, Tullytrassenmore, Tullytrassen-
beg, Lisnegree ; grange of Aghnecloigh, Corcarnan, Natingon-
tagheighteragh, Nortingortinowtragh, Ballyloyanbeg. Lissech-
ackagh in Clancarny, Armagh, Knochsheely, Aghnecloigh,
Toorenebabbouny, Damwolly, Carneshikan, Lisnenarme, Mul-
laghfalskagmore, Tullanecask, Moyneforfoge, Leggegaranroe,
Grange in Clancarny, Cloonequoigger, Lismore, Aghteebrian-
roe, Cavannecranny, Kilmacrhugh, Carrigduffe. Grange of
Annagh, Barebane, Cavanehanlone, Teadanarde, Knocne-
carnan, Lanedarge, Leggegarnaroe, Clonekah, Lisbane.
Part of Mullodromart, Knochnemurrane, Contrasnagh,
Mullahnefermore, Mullatnirmore ; grange of Knocknegarvan-
boy, Cravanecreuroeeyhtrah, Mullarlogko, Cavanecruroe-
ontrah, Odenmore; grange of Kilmachugh, Lanebeg, Aghis-
terkynbeg,Breaghfunshogy ; grange of Crewroe,Tassahowtragh,
Annagh, Clonskaulane, Aghnegloghfyn, Cargaghontragh ;
grange of Lurgushanhill, Lurgakeile, Knocktamogh, Knock-
braddogh, Tassaghevihrah, Crosseduffe, Mullaghfintullagh,
Leghahowig, Carricknebreek, Drummorne, Ballintassa, and
grange of Ball, in Toughaggy, Mullaghaghmegoorane, Alter-
cormock, Knockanenyn, Gortreih, Knocktomoggy, Lisneke-
noyll, Clonecally, Knocknerane, Ballyloganmore, Lugnelolliah,
Aghinegooran, Ballyloganbeg, Tawenlentragh, Knockinerogie,
Toorecladdagh, Cabanekeragh, Lisdooreghy, alias Slutoorclag-
han, Lobbendemphy, Tully Ivinbeg, Tooreneurghygh,
Knockecraudy, Crosscreene ; grange of Knockonummer,
600 Ancient Monasteries of Ireland.
Knockandally, Anaghagh, Sessioghmore ; grange of Aghne-
cloigh, Stroighnebrack; Knocketeemore, Clonebar, Altiloyfin,
Tannagh, Grangeballaghmarramacquoid, Cladagh, Cabane-
kaulone, Legagaranroe, Tuwysueban, Lissneu, Killspurtane,
Deryederlawole, Ballyboyan, Litterlonn, Clancarny, Derido-
rogh, Cronoghill, Cowtragh, Geengeaghbeg ; grange of Mag-
haragreenan, Fallin, Knockacapple, Cortinman; grange of
Cloghnancorragh, Grangeaghmore ; grange of Corturobe,
Kilmachugh, Mullaghtuirbeg; grange of Cloghan, Knocka-
carney, Tyrarly, Taghaboy, Cloghancorragh ; grange of
Tyrarly,Dromawell,Cloghcorragh, Aghteeconchor, Dromcogh,
Dromdoiffe, Mullaghnecrewroederge ; grange of Aghinegoo-
ran, Lurgeshankill, Merimichael, Luggemonyn, Knocknegap-
pull, Lisbarran; grange of Tullyfaran, Grangeoghmore and
Grange, Knockmeevy, Drumnekunshen, Altooglass, Dromagh-
emeclee, Coolonan, Lissedawell, Tullybronyduffe ; grange of
Croscreen, Tully Ivinmar, Greanmore and Grange, Tannagh-
nemingell, Knockelough, Knockelough, Knockneinlough,
Tannaghgarve, Boleregh, Corcleagh and the Grange, Litter-
loane, Knockneglibeg, Amisnegananagh, Drumnott, Teve-
doone, Conjeitragh, Kilnagospagh, Leaghteedawly, Cavan,
Amnineganagh in the Fews, Monemore, Garvaghymore, Alte-
neynan, Cavangroagh.
The abbot was also seized of all the tithes growing and
accruing from the said lands, and Sessiogh, Lurgaboy, Bally-
vanran, and Knoetanty in Clanchoncy, He was also seized
of the lands of Dromarge, alias Dooghmuinterdogan, Cool-
cummery, Jengooda,Tinenesken, Balliboe, Cavan, Tullyasnech,
Tiretragh, Tirenesagart, and Down.u
By an inquisition taken the first year of King James, 1603,
it appears that the abbot was also seized of a third part of a
quarter of land near Newton, in the county of Tyrone,
called the Grange, containing a ploughland of the yearly value
of one shilling; that he was also seized of a carrucate of land
at the Curragh, by the rent of twelve pence yearly, payable to
the heirs of Theobald de Verdon, to wit, to Thomas Furneval,
who married Joan, the daughter of the said Theobald.w
This abbey, and all the possessions thereunto belonging,
were granted, in May, 1612, to Sir Toby Caufield, Knight, at
the rent of five pounds Irish.x
*King,p. 252. *Id. p. 333. *Lodge, vol. 3. /. 86. ;/.
(To be continued).
END OF VOL. V.
CATHOLIC UNIVEESITY
OF
IRELAND.
The fifteenth session of the University was inaugurated on Wed-
nesday, October 28th, 1868, in the University church. The Bishops
of Cloyne, of Ferns, of Kilmore, of Dromore, of Down and Con-
nor, and of Limerick, were present. The Right Hon. the Lord
Mayor of Dublin attended in state, wearing his robes of office.
The Very Rev. Rector delivered the following inaugural address:
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN —
To-day we inaugurate the fifteenth Session of this University.
The year just passed, like many which preceded it, has been a
year of disappointment ; but hope disappointed is not a new thing
to the Catholics of Ireland. How often were our fathers disappointed
in their hopes of Emancipation, before they at last wrested that
meed of justice from au unwilling parliament and a bigoted king !
How often have we, as well as those who went before us, cried out
against the monster grievance of the Established Church, and
thought our cries were about to be heard ; but the evil continued,
and it was reserved for the present time to see that iniquiteus in-
stitution crumbling to its fall ! And so also, in vain have we ex-
pected that- justice in the matter of higher education would be
done to Irish Catholics ; that the Educational Ascendency so long
maintained in the University of Dublin would be done away with;
and that we should be given educational privileges on Catholic
principles, such as have been so long enjoyed by our Protestant
fellow countrymen! In vain have we heard on the one hand the
late Chief Secretary for Ireland declaring that " University Educa-
tion in this country is in a most unsatisfactory position" : and on the
other hand, to no purpose, so far, has the present distinguished leader
of the Opposition, Mr. Gladstone, said, that " the state of higher
education in Ireland is such as to call for a speedy interference on the
part of Parliament1". In vain have we listened to the declarations
from both of the great parties, which by turns rule this Empire.
Nothing has been done to remove the admitted grievance, and an-
other precious year has been allowed to slip away while the admit-
tedly just claims of our Catholic youth, and the claims of their
parents, and the claims of their Catholic country, remain unheeded.
Neither can it be said, that the number of these claimants is
•mall. Were they but two or three, they ought not to be treated
with injustice. But their number is, under the circumstances,
considerable. We have heard a great deal of the success of the
Queen's Colleges, and of the large number of students who fre-
quent their halls. Now, the Vice- Chancellor of the Queen's Uni-
versity informs us, that the number of Catholic students who
attended lectures in the three Queen's Colleges during last session
was 181. And in our one University College the number of
students who frequented our halls during same period was 161 !
I make no mention of 100 young men, who during the same
period passed our matriculation examination before a University
examiner, and pursued their higher studies in one or other of the
numerous Colleges, 27 in number, connected with this University.
Now what is the status quo unjustly maintained to the injury
of this large number of the rising generation of Irishmen, and of
their families and friends ? They, and many other young men of
great promise, are refused all University privileges, unless they
seek them at the risk of most important spiritual interests, in
other words, at the sacrifice of conscience. Our Catholic country
is deprived of the advantages she would receive from the en-
couragement of an educational system which the great masses of
her sons could use without religious qualms. All this time the Pro-
testant University of Trinity College is maintained in its position
of proud preeminence, with landed property to the extent of
199,573 acres, or about the hundredth part of the acreage of Ire-
land ; property, valued according to a very reduced standard at over
£92,000 a year. The members of the Established Church in Ireland
enjoy the advantages of that University with its net income of over
£64,000 a-year. These vast resources are applied to the maintenance
of an essentially Protestant University; an institution of which all
the heads, the provost, vice-provost, fellows, scholars on the
foundation, etc., are, and must be members of the Established
Church, nearly all of them being Anglican clergymen. Two of the
Protestant clergymen thus placed at the head of education in
Catholic Ireland, enjoy an income greater than the whole sum ex-
pended annually upon this Catholic University, which, because it
is Catholic, and in accordance consequently with the feelings of our
people, will not be given one shilling of the public money.
And here in this public place I may be allowed to say that when
we complain that no grant of public money is made to this Univer-
sity, we do so, not as if to assert the principle of educational endow-
ments. For my part, I believe that it is the duty of an enlightened
government to encourage learning by pecuniary grants and other
rewards such as under every Christian government have been the ap-
panage of knowledge ; and I believe that even in a mixed community
like ours this rule is applicable. But our complaint is not precisely
that this rule is not applied to us. We complain that the rule is not
applied equally to all classes; that the Catholic University of Ire-
3
land, which represents the feelings of the great mass of our people
is unrecognized, while the Anglican University is richly endowed ;
and we say, either place both on a footing of equality, or leave both
to their own resources.
Again : when there is question of the endowment of a Catholic
University, it must never be forgotten that we do not ask the
State to aid us in the ecclesiastical or religious department of our
work. For we are willing to carry on entirely in our own way,
and solely at our own expense, the theological and dogmatic teach-
ings of our University. But literary and scientific learning has,
we maintain, the same right to encouragement in our Catholic
University as elsewhere.
However, I may be asked, what right have we of this institution,
more than others, to complain? I answer, because this institution
is a University ; and the favours lavished upon the other Univer-
sity of this city, while we are treated with neglect or contumely,
render most difficult the progress, or even the existence of an insti-
tution such as ours. And still that we are labouring, as a Uni-
versity ought to labour, in the cause of higher education, cannot, I
venture to say, be denied. I speak the more freely on this
subject, because in this matter the merit is due, not to me, but
to my learned colleagues. For instance, in the one Faculty of
Medicine, which is less embarrassed by obstacles than our other
departments, our Medical School, since its opening in 1855, has
sent out 164 medical practitioners, of whom 33 are serving in the
army, 13 in the navy, 8 in the Oriental and Peninsular and other
services, and 110 are engaged in civil practice at home, in the
colonies, or in America. Again : within a'comparatively short
period, one of our pupils, Mr. James Kelleher7 took the sixth place
in mathematics, out of 304 competitors for the Indian Civil Ser-
vice, and at the first annual examination he was fifth of all the
competitors. His examination, I have reason to know, was fully
equal to a good first-class in mathematics in the University of
Oxford ; and still he got no instructions save in our halls and in the
preparatory school of the worthy Carmelite Fathers of this city.
Again : the names of two sons of our late lamented fellow-country-
man, John B. Dillon, and the name of a pupil of the Catholic Uni-
versity School in Waterford, will be announced to you to-day, as
the successful competitors for mathematical honours. We are
willing to submit their papers to the impartial judgment of any
scientific scholar, convinced that their answering will be judged
equal to that of students of their standing in any of the most far-
famed Universities.
At the beginning of last Session the first Exhibition in Classics
was awarded to Mr. Henry I. D'Arcy, of Portarlington. The
examination for this Exhibition, which is one of those founded by
the laity of the county and city of Limerick, is the same as, and
not inferior to, the Examination for the Classical Tripos, or for a
University Scholarship at Cambridge. Here, as there, the subject*
of examination are simply the Greek and Latin languages, no parti-
cular authors being fixed. We may appeal to the 43 classical papers
in our Calendar of the present year, for proof that in variety of
authors, in difficulty of philological questions, in the subjects for
composition, both in prose and verse, and in the knowledge of his-
tory required for this exhibition, and for other exhibitions and
prizes, we are not behind the most distinguished of our neighbours.
Assuredly it is hard that these young men should, at their very
entrance into life, find civil disabilities imposed upon them on ac-
count of the religious opinions held by themselves or their parents!
On the other hand, it is hard that the sense of justice inherent in
the breasts of our English fellow-subjects, and now exhibiting itself
in the general outcry against the monster grievance of the Estab-
lished Church in Ireland, should be estranged from us and from
our demands for educational equality, by the statements of persons
who are unacquainted with the true state of things. For instance,
on the 17th of this month the chief journal of England published a
leading article, in which we find the following extraordinary asser-
tions :
First, That the Queen's University is one of the happiest and most
promising applications of the system of the London University.
Every one knows that the system of the former is essentially Colle-
giate, the students of the three Queen's Colleges, — not of some inde-
finite number of Colleges, as the Times hints, — forming its body of
students, whereas the University of London is essentially non-
Collegiate.
Secondly, The Times says : That the students of other institutions
(besides the Queen's Colleges) can apply Jor the Degrees of the
Queen's University, and that it (the Queen's University) pays for
good results in learning of all sorts, however obtained. Every one
knows that the Supplemental Charter of 1866, by which this privi-
lege, such as it would have been, had been granted, was set aside
by the injunction of the Master of the Kolls.
Thirdly, The British public is told: That students of various
creeds live together in the Queen's Colleges. Every one who has
ever seen the buildings of the Queen's Colleges knows that there are
no chambers in any one of the Queen's Colleges, save for a few offi-
cials ; that the Queen's Colleges' Act distinctly provides for sepa-
rate residences for the various creeds! So much for the means by
which the Times tells us that the " prejudices of the College stu
dents must be softened, and they must learn mutual respect' !
Fourthly, We are asked to believe that an institution must on the
whole meet the wants of Catholics, when they resort to it in nearly the
same numbers as members of the Established Church, who in the
population of Ireland are only one-seventh of their number, and
who have, moreover, the University of Dublin almost exclusively
to themselves.
In fine, as the conclusion from all these statements, we are told
that if a merely Roman Catholic University had received the power
of conferring Degrees, a new type of education would have been es-
tablished, wholly alien from that which prevails in England and
among the more liberal classes in Ireland. In other words, because
a University system is said to exist in Ireland which does not
exist here ; and because the existing system has been accepted by
Irish Catholics, that is to say by 181 persons last year, who could
get none to suit them better; therefore the Catholic people of
Ireland are not to be given the system they desire: the system
which prevails in England, and which the Times thinks is "wholly
alien" from our beau ideal, is to be forced upon us ; and in this
most important matter of the education of their children, Irish-
men and Irishwomen are to be governed, not according to their
own convictions, but according to the wishes of the people of
England, "which has been trained under that " icholly alien" system,
and represented by the Times !
While our just claims are thus disregarded, and the state of
things misrepresented — I hope I may say unintentionally mis-
represented— in England, the greatest sympathy is felt in France
and Belgium for us and the cause of Catholic Education. Within
the last few months I have had an opportunity of seeing the most
distinguished prelates and other leading persons in those countries.
Among these persons I may mention the late Belgian Minister
for Foreign Affairs, M. Dechamps, who at this moment is prepa-
ring a work on Education, in which the principles for which we
contend will be fully and, as is his wont, ably vindicated ; his
most reverend brother, the Archbishop of Mechlin ; the eloquent
Bishop of Poitiers, who has so nobly vindicated the rights of our
Holy Father the Pope; the intrepid assertor of the rights of
Catholics in Geneva, and bishop of that city, Mgr. Mermillod ;
the Cardinal Archbishops of Rouen, of Bordeaux, and of Besan-
9on, and others. All these distinguished men take the greatest
interest in our struggles for pure Catholic Education, and with
one voice encourage us to persevere. They know the miseries
entailed upon their own countries by non-Catholic and infidel
systems of education ; and with common accord they tell us, that
if Ireland is to remain Catholic and Christian, we must, without
flinching, uphold the banner of Catholic Education. I have
reserved for the last place the name of the illustrious Bishop of
Orleans, Mgr. Dupanloup, to whom Ireland already owes so much.
He entered most warmly into our cause, and his pen will, I expect
shortly be used in those soul-stirring words, peculiarly his, decla-
ring the wrongs inflicted upon our Catholic people, by refusing
them the privileges attached to Higher Education, unless they seek
it in a Protestant University, or in institutions which their reli-
gion condemns These grievances the eloquent prelate will expose
to the eyes ol Catholic Europe.
He has also promised his valuable assistance in a work which,
it is hoped, will not only redound to the glory of Ireland and to
the advancement of learning, but will help to prove that this
Catholic University is not unworthy of the place denied to it
at home, but given to it by the common Father of Christendom.
For some years past the study of the Celtic language and of
Celtic antiquities has received considerable development in France
and in other parts of the continent. As an indication of this fact,
I need only refer to the learned articles which, from time to time,
have appeared in the Correspondant, from the pen of M. Ville-
marque, from that of Matthew Arnold in the Corn/rill Magazine,
and from other distinguished writers in other periodicals, and also
to the Celtic Museum, founded at St. Germain by his Imperial
Majesty Napoleon the Third. Now there is in the hands of this Uni-
versity a work of unequalled interest to the lovers of Celtic
archaeology, the MS. Glossaries of our lamented Professor O'Curry,
the labour of his life. This indefatigable labourer in the field of
Irish antiquity, during his life-long and laborious researches,
found, from time to time, many most ancient Celtic words, a
large number of which were, on account of their great antiquity,
unknown even to him, and not to be found in existing dictionaries.
These words he carefully noted down, with their context, until at
last, by a comparison of parallel passages, he was able to eluci-
date the enormous number, not of fifteen thousand, as was first
supposed, but of thirty thousand Celtic words — a prodigious voca-
bulary, it will be admitted, of one of the most ancient languages.
It was by means of this collection that O'Curry, and others led on
by him, have been enabled, of late years, to render such great
services to Irish antiquarian researches under the Brehon Laws'
Commission, and elsewhere. Now, the publication of such a work
could not fail to be of the greatest value to students of philology
and to archaeologists. These most valuable MS. remains of our
late Professor O'Curry, our Irish scribe, Mr. O'Looney, under the
direction of my learned colleague, Doctor Sullivan, has copied and
set in order.
1 mentioned to the Bishop of Orleans that our University
possesses this invaluable Celtic work. The prelate is a distin-
guished member of the illustrious Acadtfmie Frangaise^ which
labours so assiduously, not only in France, but throughout the
world, for the promotion of literature and science, and through
the influence of that learned body, most anxious as it is for the
promotion of Celtic studies, Mgr. Dupanloup hopes to get the
French government to undertake next winter the publication of
the Irish Glossaries of our late Professor O'Curry.
Through the same influence of the Bishop of Orleans and the
Academy, I hope to bring favourably before his Imperial Majesty
a project which I have long cherished, but which the opposition
offered to this University has hitherto hindered us from executing,
and to obtain his aid in realizing it. I mean the foundation of one
or more chairs of the Irish language, ancient and modern, and of
the antiquities and history of our country. We should thus have a
full Irish department in connection with the Faculty of Arts in the
Catholic University of Ireland.
The Degree of Bachelor of Divinity was then conferred on the
Rev. John Pimpr of the Society of Mary.
The proceedings concluded with an address by the Bishop of
Cloyne, of which the following is the conclusion :
* * * The Church cannot give up the mission of watching
over the thoughts, the words, and actions of her children, to direct
them from all the ways of sin. that their reward in heaven may be
every day increasing. And because science may be turned to good
or bad account, and because learning may be either useful or dan-
gerous, the Church is obliged to look after university education,
intermediate education, and even primary education. Why? Be-
cause the moment the learner goes beyond the mechanical part of
the alphabet, or the multiplication table, that very instant com-
mences the danger of education. Thus, for instance, a Catholic
child is placed under the care of one who does not share his reli-
gious convictions, and he gives as a spelling lesson or a writing
lesson to that child, that u Popery is damnable and idolatrous"".
Then commences the danger of the learner. The Socinian takes
up a Christian, who believes in the Unity and Trinity of God — a
Christian Catholic or Protestant — and the Socinian asks the child,
" Can three be one, can one be three?" The answer is, " Oh, not
at all". He appeals to the intelligence of the child ; he perverts
the intelligence of the child, and by a simple question in a very
elementary part of arithmetical teaching, he infuses into the mind
of that child his own dangerous principles. If you take the de-
partments of chemistry, astronomy, anatomy, metaphysics, or any
of the branches of learning which had been found so dangerous on
the continent, what would you find if the teaching were not based
on religion ? A man, for instance, might be teaching geography, and
undermining the Catholic conviction of the youthful learner. The
demonstrator in anatomy, with his scalpel in his hand, might prove
to his own satisfaction and that of his pupil, that there was no soul
in man. So from one department of learning to another, unless
placed under the safeguard of religion, there is no security for the
student from the time he takes the primer into his hand until he
quits the halls of the University, carrying with him whatever
honours he might have been able to achieve. Now, in every de-
partment it had ever been the anxious wish of the Catholic Church
that learning should be promoted. Go back to the middle ages.
The Catholic Church twice converted the world; she converted
the pagan world of Rome — she converted the pagan world of the
German invaders, who dismembered amongst themselves the pro-
vinces of the Roman Empire. She took them up by degrees, and
by her own gentle influence, year after year she gathered them
all again within her bosom, and when she had made them con-
verts, she began to make them scholars, and in a short time
achieved a great end, which no other power was able to accom-
plish. Her colleges and institutions brought back again the learn-
ing of Greece and Rome. The Catholic Church grudged not to
8
her children in any part of the world a full development of their
intellectnal faculties. She wished that whatever talents God had
blessed you with, might be made available for your advancement
in life, and your greater glory in heaven hereafter. But the Church
has another mission, and that mission is, that there is one thing
necessary, that you seek the kingdom of God and His justice.
Hence she never wishes to have the aroma scientiarum separated
from the curriculum of studies either in the halls of the Univer-
sity or in any of the inferior schools. On that account, great
as the difficulties were, great as the discouragement was, and all
the other elements of opposition -which were so clearly stated
by the respected Hector, the Catholic bishops of Ireland resolved
to appeal to the faith of the clergy and the people of Ireland, to
forward and austain such an institution as that in which we are
now assembled. Thank God, up to the present moment, if it has had
its difficulties, it has had its successes. One thing it has achieved :
according to a calculation made here a while ago, at least one hun-
dred medical practitioners are scattered over Ireland, having im-
bibed here, and taken with them to the remotest localities in which
they are now placed, the Christian practices which will guarantee
that there will be no injury to body or soul — that medicine and
surgery will be practised according to the principles laid down by
the law of God and the law of the Church. That is in itself up to
the present moment an immense advantage to the public at large,
and we may hope that it will be multiplied year after year, until,
at length the whole country will feel in the medical department
alone to the full extent all the advantages it derives from this insti-
tution. The Catholic University is provided with a staff of pro-
fessors of which any institution may be proud. I do not intend to
pay them a compliment to which they are not entitled ; but I be-
lieve I may say with perfect truth that in Dublin or elsewhere it
would be difficult to find a school superior to the School of Medicine
in Cecilia Street. On them is imposed a very serious responsi-
bility. You, young gentlemen, owe it to your parents at home who
sent you here, perhaps at considerable expense, to co5perate with
your professors, and derive from the teaching here all the advan-
tages within your reach. And professors, students, and all con-
cerned, citizens of Dublin, priests, and bishops of Ireland, all,
without exception, I say, owe a duty to the Catholic University.
A certain amount of responsibility is placed upon us — that the
University must be made a success. That success is attainable,
and whatever discouragement may have accompanied the begin-
ning— whatever difficulties we have still to encounter — success is
attainable, and success is before you. All you want, as the Reve-
rend Rector said, is " a clear stage, and no favour"— either an
endowment for the Catholic University, or disendovvment for all,
J. F. FOWLER, Steam Press printer, 3 Crow Street, Dublin.
Does Not Circulate
BX 801 .168 1868 SMC
The Irish ecclesiastical
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